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News & Features » News and Features
State Run
With so much focus on Shockoe Bottom from City Hall, why do business owners increasingly turn to the state for answers?
by Vernal Coleman
Scott Elmquist
A Saturday night crowd parties at Vision Ultra Lounge in Shockoe Bottom.
Richmond officials have huffed and puffed, but just weeks after the release of the city’s long-delayed Shockoe Bottom redevelopment strategy, it’s the state that’s dictating the immediate future of the neighborhood.
The Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control was the setting for a truce Nov. 16 between Shockoe Bottom business owners Rodney Peterson and William “Mac” McCormack, who’d challenged the liquor license application for a nightclub co-owned by Peterson.
Peterson agreed to a set of voluntary but legally binding concessions, walking away with the promise of a liquor license for Aqua, a yet-unopened nightclub in the 1700 block of East Main Street. In exchange for dropping his challenge, McCormack received assurances that the club is instituting an age restriction — no patrons younger than 21.
Challenging a prospective business owner’s liquor license application is common, says lawyer Michael Lafayette, who represents some 30 club and restaurant owners across the city. Residents often resort to challenging an establishment’s ABC license when they feel there’s no other recourse, he says.
That the state is playing such a key role in Shockoe Bottom is telling. The Bottom has been the focus of seemingly constant study and consternation from City Hall. The city finally released a long-awaited revitalization strategy for the neighborhood earlier this month, but the study only vaguely refers to the creation of an entertainment district in the area. There’s no mention of the nightclubs that have become the center of the debate surrounding violence. In the absence of a clearly defined plan, bigger questions remain: Can a Shockoe entertainment district succeed with the city punting aspects of nightlife regulation to the state?
Mike Rubin, one of the principals in MRA International, a Maryland-based group that specializes in urban entertainment planning, says that such a district can be a powerful redevelopment tool even without leadership from city government. “If you look across the country — South Street in Philadelphia, for example,” he says — “the success of these established entertainment districts is a market-driven phenomenon.”
But districts with significant public safety concerns require stronger hands, Rubin says. Legislation such as the city’s one-year-old dance-hall ordinance was intended to provide officials with an additional tool to regulate bars and nightclubs. But still there are flashes of violence.
The latest crime statistics indicate that even with beefed-up police presence, crime in the Bottom is increasing — but only slightly. There have been two homicides and 70 assaults, this year, up from 66 assaults at the same point last year.
But the October fatal shooting of Justin R. Morgan in the parking lot outside Have a Nice Day Café prompted Mayor Dwight Jones to call for what he called zero tolerance on crime in the neighborhood, though he provided little detail as to how that would be accomplished.
To Lafayette, the lawyer, that’s a lack of leadership. “Rather than trying to get around the problem by regulating dancing,” he says, “let’s actually develop an entertainment district ordinance that actually addresses the issue of public safety.”
Last week, Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael N. Herring bolstered the point: After reviewing 35 police reports since 2009 that mentioned Have a Nice Day Café, Herring couldn’t establish a direct link between violence in the Bottom and the controversial club.
But in providing a resolution for disputes such as the one between McCormack and Peterson, the state’s much-maligned alcohol board can act as an honest broker. When the concerns are legitimate and the complainants reasonable, the process can work in everyone’s favor, Lafayette says: “It’s when the complaints are unreasonable that a business may be saddled with unfair restrictions.”
Nat Dance, longtime owner of Club 534 on Harrison Street near Virginia Commonwealth University, has in the past agreed to specific restrictions that prevent patrons from wearing certain types of hiking boots. Some of them seem silly in hindsight, he says, “but you have to accept them out of necessity. You’re a small business. You’re already on a budget. You’re struggling even before you open up. So you can’t afford to delay opening your doors and start bringing in money.”
For area neighborhood associations, however, the process provides a separate channel outside of the city’s zoning boards to weigh in on the placement of nightlife-related businesses.
Charlie Diradour, chairman of the Fan District Association’s zoning enforcement committee, says the association invites prospective business owners who apply for a liquor license for a discussion of their intentions. “Afterward we report back to the ABC our findings,” he says. “It’s our obligation to determine what they’re going to do and determine what’s best for the neighbors and businesses that are going to affected by another restaurant.”
But unlike the Fan, the Bottom, historically a commercial hub, has experienced a recent surge in residential growth. To sustain it, the city may have to take charge of the area’s development. “You can put all the money in the world into a building,” Lafayette says. “But until everyone is on the same page in terms of public safety, nothing is going to change.” S
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Malaysia raps Karunanidhi for meddling
Posted in Malaysia raps Karunanidhi for meddling on November 30, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Malaysia told Karunanidhi on Thursday to mind his own business after the official complained about Malaysia’s treatment of its ethnic Indians.
Muthuvel Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday to intervene and protect the rights of Tamils.
He made the request after the minority community’s biggest anti-government protest in Malaysia at the weekend, sparked by anger over policies they say prevent ethnic Indians from getting decent jobs or a good education for their children.
“This is Malaysia, not Tamil Nadu,” Malaysia’s de-facto justice minister Nazri Aziz said by telephone. “This has got nothing to do with him … lay off.” He said he had not seen a protest letter from Karunanidhi.
In the letter to Singh, Karunanidhi said he was ‘pained’ at the way Malaysian police had treated Tamils when they organised a rally to complain of racial discrimination.
The rally, which drew more than 10,000 people, had triggered sporadic protests in Tamil Nadu, witnesses said.
Karunanidhi said Tamils were the largest group among Malaysia’s 1.8 million ethnic Indians and added that the people of Tamil Nadu were disturbed by the events there. He sought Singh’s intervention ‘to end the sufferings and bad treatment of Malaysian Tamils’.
Karunanidhi’s DMK party is an ally in Singh’s federal coalition.
Multi-racial Malaysia has brushed aside claims that it mistreated its ethnic Indians, saying that they were better off than those in India. But ethnic Indians complain of a lack of educational and business opportunities, saying government affirmative-action policies that favour majority ethnic Malays had marginalised them.
LTTE Destroys Tamil Culture – Ven. Dr. Walpola Piyananda
Posted in LTTE Destroys Tamil Culture - Ven. Dr. Walpola Piyanand on November 30, 2007| 5 Comments »
In Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese and Tamils lived in harmony for many centuries. They shared customs, cultures and traditions which helped to maintain a harmonious lifestyle in our country.
In Buddhist temples there was always a place of worship for Hindu devotees. The Buddhists even believe that the God Vishnu is the protector of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. God Subramanium or Skandha who is supposed to have resided in Kataragama is respected by most Sri Lankan Buddhists.
In fact all Sri Lankan Buddhists, when they perform any religious service, transfer merit to these deities.
During King Mahanama’s reign in Anuradhapura some monks who belonged to the Abhayagiri Vihara were exiled as they accepted the Vaitulya Vada tradition. The monks who lived in Danakataka Vihara in Southern India were supported by Tamil Buddhists. It is also stated that during the Anuradhapura period, Sinhalese monks have lived in Danakataka Vihara. Ven. Buddhagosa the well known Buddhist commentator who composed, The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga) may have been a Tamil from South India.
Ven. Anuruddha, another Buddhist scholar who wrote Manual of Abhidhamma was a Tamil monk too.
In recent years Professor Ananda Coomaraswamy, a distinguished Sri Lankan Buddhist Tamil scholar, taught Buddhism at Harvard University. He can be introduced as one of the pioneer Buddhist propagators in the U.S.A. It must be mentioned, that a few of the Sinhala Buddhist monks, who turned out to be world renown scholars learned English in Colombo and Jaffna from Tamil scholars.
Some notable facts that I wish to state here, are my own. Before 1983 the majority of students in the Colombo and Peradeniye Medical College and the Engineering Faculty were Tamil. In Sri Lanka, there were numerous Tamil doctors, engineers, and civil servants. We had a beautiful rapport with everyone, Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim and Burghers. So why is it different now?
It is obvious the root cause is due to the ruthless, terrorist organization led by Velupillai Prabhakaran. The LTTE cadre forced the educated professional Tamils to flee the country. The terrorists did not leave the families of the immigrants alone. They were harassed, ransoms demanded, jewelry and property taken by force. The children were kidnapped, forced into army training camps. It did not end there; the Tamils who remained were tortured by the LTTE. As a result, anyone who could afford migrated to Europe, Canada, U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand, etc. We are sad that over three million innocent people, left their motherland reluctantly due to the atrocities of the LTTE.
The LTTE killed not only the Sinhala politicians such as President Premadasa, Gamini Dissanayaka, Lalith Athulathmudali, but also killed Amirthalingum, Kadiragama, Tiruchellum and many other distinguished, educated politicians. The LTTE killed the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi, an international figure in May 1991. This resulted in a no faith attitude towards the Sri Lankan Tamils by the Indians. Moreover due to the LTTE terrorist activities the world has begun to shun not only Sri Lankan Tamils, but all Tamils.
Even though the Tamils are a religious and non-violent group of people who try to preserve their ancient traditions, yet the world has come to view them in a different light. Today, some Tamils who fear the LTTE have come to Colombo, the capital to live with the Sinhalese. In fact, now in Colombo the majority are Tamils.
The Tamils who live in the North and East of Sri Lanka are in an unfortunate situation. They cannot escape from the North to go anywhere. They are controlled by the LTTE, during the past 25 years most of the Tamil children were not allowed to study. They were trained to kill non-believers of the LTTE. They instilled anger, hatred and ill will in the children. The Tamils, were mostly Hindus and vegetarian, they were a non-violent group. Unfortunately the LTTE destroyed their culture. However, Prabakaran’s children are studying in the U.K. along with the children of the leading LTTE cadres.
For human beings, the most valuable period in life is their childhood. At this time they should be nourished, have parental care and love, be allowed to play and think freely without fear, and be given a good education. None of the above was given to the children in the LTTE controlled areas.
As teenagers, they should have the freedom to socialize, in maturity they should be allowed to marry. The youth in these areas had none of these opportunities.
Why aren’t the Human Rights Organizations condemning the LTTE’s activities? Why do they blame those who try to liberate the innocent people?
In world history, we cannot find a single organization that has destroyed a great Sri Lankan Tamil culture and civilization. Yet because of fear, the average Tamil is turning a deaf ear to the happenings.
In the past there would have been instances of wrong doings due to lack of spiritual understanding, due to the greediness of politicians and a lack of vision. However in Sri Lanka the situation is different now. This generation has mutual respect, problems can be solved by discussion and negotiations. Lives have been lost needlessly on both sides, due to a lack of communication and a lack of commitment to peaceably solve our problems.
This is the time to close the chapters of the past and open new avenues. We must respect each other and strive to live in peace as one nation.
Letter from a Tamil in Canada
Posted in Letter from a Tamil in Canada on November 30, 2007| 1 Comment »
The comments by various people show how foolishly we, Tamils continue to glorify violence, suicide and terror. We began all this in 1939 with G.G. Ponnambalam attacking the Sinhalese in a virulent speech in1939, resulting in the first Sinhala Tamil riot.
After the war SJV and others used every chance to gore the government instead of building bridges. They spurned the left leaders who stood for parity and preferred to hob-nob with their Colombo-7 capitalist leaders.
Our Colombo, Tamil leaders arrogantly started the ball rolling, and even claimed that they are “ready for state terror”. The local militants realized that they were being bamboozled by the Colombo set, and they captured control, killed those leaders, our best men and women, and made cannon fodder out of our children.
Look at this partial list:
1. The JR government in 1977 granted all the demands on language etc. that the previous Tamil organizations had asked for. But we could not profit from it, because by then we were under the gun of Prabakaran.
2. India came in and merged North and East two provinces, and provided an honourable framework. But we reengaged the whole thing and started another war. Prabakaran would have been annihilated by the IPKF if not for Premadasa.
3. Further accommodation was possible under Premadasa. But we reengaged him and killed the 600 police who surrendered.
4. Under Chandrika we had the far reaching constitutional proposals by Neelan Thiruchelvan, but we replied by assassinating him.
5. Incredible concessions were made by the Ranil Wickremasinghe government with the Cease Fire agreement. But we used it to stock up arms, get ready for another war and made sure of such a war by preventing Ranil’s Victory.
This list of 5 does not include the innumerable other chances that had been offered. Why would any politician think that a political solution is possible with Prabakaran?
So, why are were talking of a political solution?
LTTE has always worked for a military solution. This Anuradhapura attack is the same old Killinochchi wine that Bishop Chikera is now peddling and desecrating even the Eucharist. The LTTE does NOT want a political solution. It wants a military solution from the barrel of a gun. In the process it will destroy the Ceylon Tamils by destroying the future generation. How many Tamils are now left in the Vanni? What is the percentage of Tamils in Sri Lanka today? The CIA world fact book says that there is now only about 5% Tamils in SL!
Instead of executing this attack on the Anuradhapura military camp, if Prabakaran had declared that HE IS FOR A FEDERAL SOLUTION and that HE WILL PEACEFULLY CONTEST ELECTIONS EVERY WHERE IN SRI LANKA, do you think ANY SINHALA POLITICIAN of any worth could OPPOSE IT? Even the most extreme “unitary man” would have to take up this chance. Even many Sinhala might vote for Prabakaran if he had the capacity to the right thing. But a “Venkai” does not change its spots.
Instead, for 30 years, he has led the Tamils on the path of destruction and suicide. Foolish Tamils, drunk with the venom of hat sing in his praise. I lay the whole blame on Prabakaran for destroying the Ceylon Tamils. He is the biggest friend of Sinhala Chauvinists. Prabakaran has done what no Dutugemunu could ever do – reduce the Tamil areas to a prison for the Tamils, reduce the reputation of Tamils all over the world, kill our next generation and convert the remainder into war-mongering youngsters unfit for civilian life. The adults have been reduced to displace persons.
School principles and Temple dignitaries have been assassinated. Only the Tamils living in cozy comfort in the foreign lands can continue to rattle their swords, mesmerized by Prabakaran’s war games which have destroyed the Tamil people, and impoverished the Sinhala as well.
Nothing is possible for the Ceylon Tamils until Prabakaran is a factor in the balance of power. Tamils need educated leaders with a vision fit for today’s global village.
Dr. C. Rasalingam
(http://mawbima.blogspot.com)
Basil Rajapaksa shoots from the hip
Posted in Basil Rajapaksa shoots from the hip on November 30, 2007| 1 Comment »
Despite increased international protests against Sri Lanka pursuing a military victory over the LTTE, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government is set to go all out against LTTE strongholds in the Vanni.
The ongoing skirmishes on a wide front across the Jaffna frontline and west of Omanthai are widely believed to be precursor to a massive military onslaught on the LTTE.
The MP reiterated that the government would be willing to sit down for fresh round of negotiations with the LTTE but not be under pressure. In fact, many conveniently forget that the LTTE quit the peace process in April, 2003 during the UNF administration of Ranil Wickramasinghe, and since then spurned several attempts to bring them back to the negotiating table, he said.
Budget and toppling the government
He expressed confidence that the administration would come out stronger once it secured the vote on the third reading of the budget.
“They (the opposition) won’t easily give up their attempts to politically overwhelm us. But we have the strength and capacity to meet their political moves as well as the LTTE’s military challenge.”
He urged the UNP to abandon their efforts to undermine the government. “Now, they have lost the vote on the second reading on the Budget, they must give us peace of mind to govern the country for at least another year,” he said.
“Continuing political uncertainly would be detrimental to the economy and the war effort.”
Influence by external forces
Blaming the LTTE for triggering Eelam War IV, he said that the second achievement of the government was its decision not to be influenced by external factors.
“Have we ever taken a major decision purely on domestic reasons? We were always guided by external players. But in this instance, the president had the courage to decide an appropriate military response to the LTTE challenge. If we were guided by the CFA and remained committed to it in the face of LTTE action which at one point threatened to overwhelm the government, we would have been deep trouble.”
Rajapaksa faulted successive governments for giving up large extents of territory thereby allowing the LTTE to set up its own administration. “But now we have changed that attitude.”
Accusations of corruption – commissions, houses, luxury cars
“We have been accused of robbing the nation, collecting commissions, buying houses, super luxury vehicles. The opposition regularly repeats these allegations. Let them prove their allegations.”
He said that they have earned their money legitimately. “Recently we were accused of paying a princely sum out of our ill-gotten money to acquire a building formerly owned by a high commission in Colombo. In fact, a senior member of the judiciary inquired about this from me. But subsequently he had met the person who bought this building.”
This is just one such example, said, referring also to the recent controversy alleging that the president’s son, Namal, had acquired a super luxury Aston Martin.
He accused a section of the media for being partial to the opposition but acknowledged that similar allegations have been made against the state-controlled press. “People are being misled. They are being taken for a ride,” he said.
“Take Gota’s case. He served the army for 20 years before migrating to the US where he worked as a computer systems UNIX administrator at the prestigious Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. He had everything but he sold almost all he had in the US to take over the Defence Secretary’s post in late 2005.”
President’s leadership
Basil said that he worked with Mahinda for several decades. “I am not a novice in politics,” he said, asserting that he has the capacity to meet challenges. Commenting on the president, he said that his brother had the knack for handling people.
“All of us work under his directions. He is the president and party leader and make no mistake he knows what is good for the administration.” He dismissed the assertion that he was the power behind the throne. “The president is a natural leader and people may see me as a trouble-shooter and a decision maker. But as far as I am concerned, I may implement things, carry out orders and generally make myself useful to the president.
Bribing LTTE to boycott elections
He said that nothing could be more ridiculous than the UNP claim that the Rajapaksas bribed the LTTE to engineer presidential election boycott in the Northern and Eastern Province. The LTTE couldn’t be bribed that way. Their decision making process wouldn’t be guided by financial gains or any other privileges, he said.
“I don’t know why they acted against Ranil Wickremesinghe. But one thing is clear. Participation of Tamils in the presidential election process wouldn’t be to their (LTTE) advantage. Even if Wickremesinghe won, they wouldn’t have been able to manipulate that victory to their advantage given the fact that the Tigers quit the peace process during Wickremesinghe’s tenure as the Prime Minister.”
Also the LTTE wanted to ensure that no one could boast of receiving a mandate from the people of the North and East.
Rajapaksa said that if anyone bothered to read the EU report on the last parliamentary election, the Tamil National Alliance would be unmasked. The EU revealed the LTTE-TNA manipulation of the entire process which facilitated the election of TNA MP who accepted the LTTE as the sole representatives of the Tamil speaking people.
Officials accused by COPE
He assured that the government wouldn’t shield officials and politicians accused by the Committee on Public Enterprises on waste, irregularities and corruption. “But, as a government we won’t operate in Gestapo style. If we do that, there would be other allegations. So let the investigations their take course,” he said.
He emphasized that he didn’t want to take over COPE from colleague Wijedasa Rajapakshe, MP or obstruct investigations conducted by the two parliamentary watchdog committees.
(www.island.lk)
Fresh Milk: Sri Lanka to raise milch cows on grazing land freed from Tigers
Posted in Fresh Milk: Sri Lanka to raise milch cows on grazing la on November 30, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Sri Lanka is trying to make use of grazing lands freed from the grip of Tamil Tiger rebels in the island’s east to increase domestic fresh milk production.
The initiative would help meet domestic demand and reduce imports at a time when global milk prices have doubled owing to shortages.
The government has raised the price of milk it buys from farmers and wants to improve collection, said A O Kodituwakku, additional secretary of the Ministry of Livestock Development.
“The ministry is encouraging dairy producers to retain their cows and invest in improved productivity by raising the price of milk by 10 rupees per liter,” Kodituwakku told a meeting on efforts to improve the island’s dairy industry.
“We are also working to strengthen the mechanism for collecting milk.”
The Ministry of Livestock Development said some 140,000 families in the eastern province alone engage in some sort of livestock farming.
Helping small farmers improve livestock farming would also help revive the local economy in the eastern region that had suffered from two decades of conflict.
Much of the area had been under the control of the Tamil Tigers fighting for a separate state in the island’s north and east.
But government forces drove out the Tigers from their jungle strongholds and coastal settlements under their control in a series of military campaigns earlier this year.
Rebecca Cohn, director of the USAID aid agency which organized the meeting of diary industry and government officials, said they want to start a project next year to revive milk production in the east.
“We have all read about doubling of the price of imported milk powder in the last year indicating a huge demand for milk due to short supply worldwide,” Cohn told the meeting, according to the USAID statement.
“Energizing the local dairy sector would not only help meet this great demand and bring down prices, but also give a much needed boost to local economies long suffering from more than two decades of conflict.”
The project, called Connecting Regional Economies (CORE), will improve rural value chains in the eastern and north central provinces.
Sri Lanka imported 70,000 metric tons of milk powder at a cost of 17 billion rupees last year, a figure expected to double in 2007.
Ariyaseela Wickramanayake of Pelawatte Dairies said that owing to poor productivity, small producers often find selling the cows for beef is more profitable than milk production.
“But if the large amount of land available for dairy production that exists in the east is utilized effectively, and feeding practices are improved, we have the potential to improve production by up to 300 percent.
“In addition to natural grasses, rice bran and crop residues are available as feed.”
The USAID said coordination between small-scale farmers and larger farms could also potentially help rural households improve income and employment, and give access to technology and dairy management practices.
Large Sri Lankan processors working on a national scale collect only just over half of the total amount of milk produced in the country, with the balance either consumed or processed locally.
Uncollected milk is consumed at village level, while collected milk end up as flavoured milk packs, butter, yoghurt or cheese.
Structural Issues
Yields from Sri Lankan milch cows have been poor in the past as high-yielding cows from temperate regions do not thrive in the hot tropical island.
Efforts have been made to cross-foreign breeds with local ones that can stand the local climatic conditions but are yet to have a significant impact on local herds.
Feed is also poor in much of the island. High yielding cows have been raised with some success in the island’s cooler and wetter hill country.
The food giant Nestle ran an extensive program in the 1980’s to improve feed and stock but the firm found it difficult to compete with cheaper imported milk powder. But now milk powder is at a historic high.
Milk prices are also a political issue and politicians point fingers at the dairy products import bill expounding on the need to ‘save’ foreign exchange each time the government prints money and creates balance of payments problems.
The War shifts North
Posted in The War shifts North on November 30, 2007| Leave a Comment »
With the theater or war shifting towards the North troops are involved in almost daily fierce battles with the LTTE.
(http://www.dailymirror.lk)
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Tax and Benefits Challenges
US Supreme Court lets Minnesota’s repeal of portions of the Multistate Tax Compact stand
TAX AND BENEFITS CHALLENGES DEC 26, 2016
Several months ago, we explained a Michigan Court of Appeals decision that came down in June; it concluded a series of appeals in favor of that state’s tax assessments against several companies, including Gillette, Sonoco, and Lubrizol. The main issue was whether the legislature’s 2014 retroactive repeal of the Multistate Tax Compact (Compact) was lawful. Prior to the retroactive repeal, businesses had the choice of deploying the Compact to apportion and allocate income in accordance with its three-factor apportionment formula, rather than apportioning income by multiplying the firm’s tax base by a sales factor. The plaintiffs appealed the repeal to the Michigan Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case, so the conclusion, that the legislature’s action eliminating the three-factor apportionment option was lawful, remains in place.
Earlier this month, the question of the constitutionality of the repeal was proposed to the United States Supreme Court, in a different Michigan lawsuit, DIRECTV Group Holdings, LLC v. Michigan Department of Treasury, where it remains to be seen whether the Court will grant certiorari. Considering both the June refusal and the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent rejection of a Minnesota case also pertaining to the Compact, Kimberly-Clark Corp. & Subsidiaries v. Minn. Commissioner of Rev., DIRECTV is facing difficult odds.
Background facts in Kimberly-Clark
The Tax Court that heard the first appeal laid out the operative facts of the case in its June 2015 opinion. The Kimberly-Clark Corporation, and its subsidiaries, have been doing business in Minnesota since 1958, and filing Minnesota tax returns there since at least 1983. During the tax years at issue, 2007, 2008, and 2009, the company engaged in a unitary, multi-state business, and computed its corporate franchise tax liability by a formula contained in Articles III and IV of Minnesota’s version of the Compact. These articles allowed a taxpayer to apportion income under the laws of the state, without reference to the Compact, or to apportion income using an equally weighted three-factor formula utilizing sales, payroll, and property.
In 1987, Minnesota repealed Articles III and IV, while also amending its equally weighted three-factor formula by increasing the weight of the sales factor, and reducing the weight of the property and payroll factors. Lawmakers justified this on the grounds of simplifying the tax code, improving predictability and conformity with other states, and transferring tax burdens away from in-state corporations. In 2013, Minnesota withdrew from the Compact entirely in order to avoid “even the possibility” of having to pay refunds on previously filed returns.
Kimberly-Clark calculated its tax utilizing the non-equally weighted formula for tax years between 1989 and 2000. In April 2013, it amended those returns for the relevant tax years using the equally weighted formula, and sought a refund of $1.2 million.
When the Tax Commissioner denied the refund, Kimberly-Clark’s appeal argued that the state had violated a binding contract, the Compact, between Minnesota and other states.
The Tax Court’s conclusion in favor of the Minnesota focused on the unmistakability doctrine, which the state’s supreme court described as a rule of contract construction providing that the “sovereign powers of a state cannot be contracted away except in ‘unmistakable’ terms.’” The Tax Court’s application of the doctrine “turn[ed] on whether enforcement of the contractual obligation alleged would block the exercise of a sovereign power of the Government.”
Over Kimberly-Clark’s objection that the doctrine should not apply, the Tax Court disagreed on the principle of state sovereignty, citing the Michigan case Int’l Bus. Machines Corp. v. Dep’t. of Treasury, which concluded that the Compact did not create any obligation to adhere to Articles III and IV. Ultimately, the Tax Court asserted, there is no Compact provision that “contains or constitutes a separate clear and unmistakable promise that the State would not alter or repeal the election [provision].”
Kimberly-Clark appealed the Tax Court’s decision to the Supreme Court of Minnesota. In its June 22, 2016, opinion, the court proclaimed that Articles III and IV did not create a contractual obligation between the Minnesota Legislature and Kimberly-Clark that prohibited the Legislature from later repealing those articles.
In the United States Supreme Court
Arguing that the Compact is a “multistate agreement that addresses significant aspects of the state taxation of multistate businesses,” including over-taxation of out of state businesses, Kimberly-Clark’s request for review disputed the Minnesota Supreme Court’s conclusion that states that have signed on to the Compact can prevent taxpayers from electing to apportion their income. The Minnesota Supreme Court justified this conclusion on the grounds that “the Compact does ‘not contain a separate and distinct promise that the State would not alter or repeal the election.’”
By denying review, the Supreme Court never answered the question that Kimberly-Clark contends remains open: “Whether, under the ‘unmistakability doctrine,’ [s]tates are bound by contractual promises embodied in multistate compacts only if the contracting [s]tates make a separate and express “second promise” to abide by their initial contractual promise.”
Just last week, the Michigan Court of Appeals decided a different apportionment case, Solo Cup Operating Corp. v. Department of Treasury. This was a consolidated appeal involving similar issues that those described above: Solo Cup, the plaintiff, wanted to use the Compact’s three-factor apportionment formula to calculate its tax base pursuant to Michigan law. The state instead required Solo Cup to use the sales factor apportionment formula.
Once again, the Court of Appeals found in favor of Michigan’s Treasury Department. Whether this will be yet another apportionment case that goes to the Supreme Court of the United States remains to be seen. But even if Solo Cup does decide to appeal, it seems unlikely that the high court will choose to take it in light of the other recent Compact case denials.
DAVID KALL
DAVID EBERSOLE
I am a recognized tax advisor who takes a team approach to working with clients to achieve business goals. I leverage my public sector background to understand all perspectives and leave no tax planning or tax controversy stone unturned.
TAGS: MICHIGAN, MINNESOTA, US SUPREME COURT
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The Aerozone Innovation Hub Opportunity Zone
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Home Perspectives Twin towers of horror
Twin towers of horror
Azmi Bishara
Terror and anti-terror have departed from the land of reason, and found their mythological haven. There they stand, on top-heavy pedestals, staring down on us with ice-cold eyes: twin towers of faith, unquestioned and unexamined. There is not a single analytical tool that can explain the globalisation of bias that has been infused into these two terms. And there is no moral ground to justify the linguistic apartheid that is now the trademark of US foreign, and domestic, policy.
As it stands now, the concept of terror depends on who you are, not what you do. The murder of civilians for political purposes may be called terror. Or it may be called violence, acts of war, or even legitimate resistance. It all depends on whether the perpetrator is, or is not, listed as terrorist. Forget equality before the law. Forget proof of guilt. Terror is not a crime unless committed by a so-called “terrorist.” And everyone is making sure we all know who the terrorists are.
Unlike theft, embezzlement, first- degree murder or traffic offences, you cannot commit terror unless you’re a born terrorist, a licensed villain. Otherwise, your worst atrocities will have to be called something else, perhaps an act of survival against ethnic marauders, perhaps a part of the war against terror. Terror today is an act perpetrated by an organisation that has been designated as terrorist by powerful decision makers. If violence is committed in defiance of the existing regime, it is terror. If it is committed by the regime’s security forces or an affiliated militia, it is not.
The world, we are told by powerful politicians, is made up of two groups: terrorists and anti-terrorists. This division has ethnic undertones, and a dollop or two of racism. It is this division, not terror, that is new to the international scene. In all cultures, there are groups and religious movements that sanction the wanton murder of civilians for political purposes. In the United States, in Arab countries, and almost everywhere else, people have committed political violence against their own kin, against their ethnic and cultural compatriots. These acts have been designated, rightly, as terrorist. And they are no longer an international concern.
Right now, the international community is less concerned with the definition of the crime than with the individual or group that commits it. Globally speaking, you are either a terrorist or anti-terrorist. If you are not designated as a terrorist, you can, literally, get away with murder.
The underlying premise of the war against terror is that there is a conflict between liberal values and certain cultures, or between liberal cultures and non-liberal (terrorist-breeding) ones. The implied racism is thinly veiled. Cultures are not independent, organic entities. They only transpire through real people, with real interests. These interests can be in conflict, not the cultures. To think otherwise is folly, or bigotry. Unfortunately, this is just the line of thinking favoured by George W Bush.
Since 11 September, the US president, by default and with a fair amount of arm-twisting, has become the world’s leading authority on terror. And he has divided the world into good and bad: The good guys (anti-terrorists) are fighting the bad guys (terrorists). Ironically, this is just the kind of attitude that fundamentalists (literally) would kill for. This is the universal rift they always preached and fantasised about: an infantile, untenable, and racist moral dichotomy has become a thriving, globally sponsored, earth shattering policy.
In the past, only fundamentalists and Israeli politicians prayed for this totally idiotic war of good against evil to materialise. Former Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, when he was still Israel’s young, ambitious emissary to the United Nations, tried, and failed, to get this mad point across. Now, he and the like- minded from across the political and cultural divide need not worry.
As an occupying country, Israel has a vested interest in depicting its quest to oppress another nation as something else, something detached from reality, preferably a mythological fight against terror. The oppression of national movements, colonialist doctrinaires have always attempted to prove, is in the general good of humanity. The natives are often portrayed as somehow genetically violent, inherently dangerous, and ethnically deranged. The quarrel, therefore, is not about land stolen from its true owners. It is about values, of which the natives have none. This is racism at its finest, and it has just been globally packaged, promoted, and acted upon.
The 11 September attacks, with their unspeakable horror, were the brainchild of similar bigotry. The terrorists who launched these attacks subscribed to the dichotomy of good and evil that inspires the current war against terror. These attacks have been Israel’s front seat ticket to the international anti-terror show. In this deranged show, the undeniable justice of the Palestinian cause has been sidestepped. Israel has just joined ranks with such nations as Spain, India, Russia, Turkey, and China in an international endeavour that vilifies all violent, secessionist movements.
What everyone has conveniently forgotten, however, is that the Palestinians, endlessly quashed by the most voracious forms of colonialism, are not even secessionists. Israel has not once deigned to propose that the Palestinians live with the Israelis as full citizens in the same state. Israel does not want the Palestinians to be part of the same country, or have their own.
Until they are granted self- determination, the Palestinians are entitled to national resistance. Some of their acts of resistance may be questionable, morally or politically, but not their right to resist. And there is hardly a resemblance between Palestinian struggle and the kind of global terror that has been launched by Al-Qa’eda and the Taliban. The actions of the latter can only be understood as a fundamentalist quest, a throwback to the Cold War era, a knee-jerk reaction to globalisation and the deformed modernisation it has brought about.
What the Palestinians are grappling with is much more immediate than the abstract concepts of morality and justice. They are faced with a daily reality of colonialist oppression, of an occupation that gets uglier with every passing moment. The Israeli occupation is not a traders’ bridgehead that might go away, or an international mandate that might relapse one day. It is an attempt by one group of people to replace another. Israel’s violence against the Palestinians is both structural and endemic. This is why Israel is so desperate to win anti-terror approval for its worsening acts of violence. It can only do that by branding the Palestinians as culturally violent, ethnically deranged. After 11 September, the world, spearheaded by the United States, created just the right mythology for such mad views to prosper.
But crude distortions of reality cannot last. Democracy, when applied to the colonial community but denied to the natives, is not worth its name. Ethnicity, when it supersedes citizenry, is a recipe for disaster. The current distortion of language, and the concomitant debasement of an entire nation, is licence for murder. In the current uproar of the anti-terror chase, fairness and justice may have been forgotten. But they remain the only hope for ending the nightmare.
The writer is a Palestinian Israeli and member of the Knesset.
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Priscilla Presley Opens Up About Her Relationship With The Late Elvis After Accusations Of Him Having Underage Partners
The great rock and roll superstar Elvis Presley's passing brought up a lot of assumptions and speculations concerning his lifestyle and even relationships. Decades later, his life is still food for gossip.
In a book penned by Joel Williamson, the writer accused the King of Pop of having had sexual relationships with underage girls, 14-year-olds to be precise.
His wife and longtime partner Priscilla Presley came out to shed more light on the kind of relationship she had with the superstar.
The two had met when Priscilla was 14 years old and the superstar was in the army. They were in a relationship until they got married in 1967.
According to Priscilla, their relationship was a fiery one that was built on a lot of sexual tension.
However, she claimed she was still a virgin at the time of their wedding when she was 21. She also claimed they consummated their marriage in a "frenzy of passion".
In her book, 'Elvis And Me,' Priscilla explained how she had to satisfy Elvis in various manners without penetration.
However, the 73-year old has nothing but praise for her ex-husband, despite the array of allegations.
Nevertheless, she confesses she understands why people might see that what they had was wrong. She also admitted that, while they were together, she didn't realize who she was as a woman.
On the show Loose Women, Priscilla spoke on how she didn't have a typical teenager's life because she didn't live her life for herself, but for Elvis.
She said:
"You lived his life, you didn't have your own life, you saw things he wanted to see, you listened to the music he wanted to listen to, you would go to the places he wanted to go."
She said their divorce took place not because he had stopped loving Elvis, but because she realized she needed to find herself without him. In her words, she said Elvis would always be "the love of her life."
It seems that no matter what the media says about the late Elvis, he will always have a place in Priscilla's heart!
READ ALSO: Lisa Marie, Elvis Presley's Daughter, Reconnects With Her Late Father Through A Beautiful Duet
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Black Panther is up for Best Picture at the Golden Globes and it’s so well deserved
Emma KellyThursday 6 Dec 2018 1:54 pm
Black Panther is up for the biggest award of the night (Picture: Marvel/Disney/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)
A Marvel film could win at the Golden Globes, and we are pumped.
The blockbusters have long been ignored during awards season, but Black Panther has broken the mould and been nominated for some of the biggest awards at the 2019 Golden Globes.
Black Panther has been nominated for Best Picture (Drama), and will fight it out against BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, If Beale Street Could Talk and A Star Is Born.
It’s also got a nod in the Best Original Song In A Motion Picture category.
All The Stars by Kendrick Lamar and SZA is up against Shallow (A Star Is Born), Revelation (Boy Erased), Girl In The Movies (Dumplin’) and Requiem For A Private War (A Private War).
This could be a fast track to the Oscars – while the Golden Globes are much more open-minded than the Academy Awards (they have a category specifically for comedies and musicals) it’s an early indicator for who may pick up an Oscar.
That means we could see Lady Gaga on stage at the Dolby Theatre.
More: Golden Globes
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Another Fiji Water Girl emerges as fresh model photobombs stars at Spirit Awards
The Favourite – who was the real Queen Anne and what awards has Olivia Colman won?
The Bad Romance singer has been nominated for Best Actress In A Drama for her role as Ally in A Star Is Born, and will also compete in the Original Song category.
Bradley Cooper is also up for the actor counterpart.
And there’s another superhero nod elsewhere at the Golden Globes, with Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse up for Best Animation.
See the full list of Golden Globes nominations here.
MORE: The Men in Black reboot finally has a new official title and it’s pretty ‘international’
Black PantherGolden Globes
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Garage Museum’s former curator Kate Fowle named as MoMA PS1’s director
She will take office in September 2019
Kate Fowle. Source: The Garage Museum of Contemporary Art/Artguide
Kate Fowle, the former chief curator of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, has been appointed director of MoMA PS1 in Queens, ArtGuide reports.
MoMA’s director Glenn D. Lowry said Kate Fowle’s appointment was a natural choice: “She’s an accomplished scholar, a deft curator and an outstanding leader.”
The position of MoMA PS1’s director has been vacant since Klaus Biesenbach, the institution’s long-term director, departed to head the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
Fowle is director-at-large at Independent Curators International (ICI) in New York. She will start the new position at MoMA PS1 in September 2019.
Before the Garage Museum, she had been the executive director of ICI and served as the international curator at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing.
At the Garage Museum, Fowle curated and cocurated exhibitions by John Baldessari, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Anri Sala, Urs Fischer, Marcel Broodthaers and others.
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Dem Candidate Howard Sherman-Sela Ward Niece Worked For Republican Miss Gov Phil Bryant And Republican Wicker; Currently Working In US Senate – Probably For Republican Hyde-Smith; Possibly For Wicker; Worked For Sherman In April Which May Be Illegal
"Russian Interference in the 2016 United States Election”, 2013 Miss Universe Pageant, 2016 US election, corruption, Democratic Run Off Mississippi Senate race, Elections, Espy, Howard Sherman, Hyde-Smith, Miss Universe Pageant Moscow, Mississippi, none dare call it treason, parcel of rogues, Phil Bryant, Putin, Robert De Niro, Russia, Russia tampering US elections, Russiagate, Savannah Ward, Sberbank, Traitors, Treason, Trump, US Senate, US Senate funding, US Senator from Mississippi, vote, Wicker
If Sherman wins we still won’t know if Mississippians got the wool pulled over their eyes, or if Bryant had the system rigged in more ways than one. This apparently was all about patronage and nepotism. They probably donated to Wicker to get their niece a job in DC. Things haven’t changed in Mississippi.
On Sela Ward and Howard Sherman’s niece’s LinkedIn page, we find that niece Savannah Ward paged for Republican Governor of Mississippi Phil Bryant; that she is “the former intern” of Republican Senator Roger Wicker, who her aunt and uncle (Sela Ward-Howard Sherman) donated $10,000 to last June, and who her uncle through marriage, Howard Sherman, supposedly wants to run against. Furthermore, she lists herself as a “current employee of the United States Senate…” She is currently a Staff Assistant for the US Senate, Washington DC, since April 2018, according to her linkedin account. The US Senate is Republican dominated, and if she is attached to a particular Senator, it is either Wicker, or, more likely, Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith, who also went to Washington in April, as a Phil Bryant appointee to the Senate, after Cochran resigned.
If she is really in Memphis area, then she may be in a Hernando Mississippi office for Wicker or Hyde-Smith. Memphis is the largest city for north Mississippi; New Orleans for south Mississippi. Hernando is greater metro Memphis.
On Sela Ward and Howard Sherman’s niece’s LinkedIn page, we find that niece Savannah Ward paged for Republican Governor of Mississippi Phil Bryant; that she is “the former intern” of Republican Senator Roger Wicker, who her aunt and uncle donated $10,000 to last June, and who her uncle through marriage, Howard Sherman, supposedly wants to run against. Furthermore, she lists herself as a “current employee of the United States Senate…” She is currently a Staff Assistant for the US Senate, Washington DC, since April 2018, according to her linkedin account.
The US Senate is Republican dominated, and if she is attached to a particular Senator, it is either Wicker, or, more likely, Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Hyde-Smith Hyde-Smith was appointed by Governor Phil Bryant on March 21st and entered office on April 2, 2018. This is the same month that Savannah became an assistant, but also the same month that she worked for Sherman.
If she went to Washington with Hyde-Smith, then working for the Sherman campaign may have been illegal. It is certainly unethical as Sherman has the same campaign manager as Mike Espy, who will run against Hyde-Smith in November and who Sherman says he will support.
While she says that she’s a Social Media Marketing Intern at W Decor in Meridian, Mississippi since February 2016, handling social media can be done from anywhere. We still have to look up ownership, since it’s not on Sherman’s disclosure form, but could still be owned by Sela Ward. Meridian is 90 miles from Wicker’s Jackson office (and Hyde Smith’s). She worked as a Press Intern for the United States Senate from May 2016 to June 2016 in Washington D.C., apparently for Roger Wicker, since she says that she was a “former intern” of Wicker.
This just shows WHY Sherman’s run was illegal. Excerpted from the Begley petition:
“6. Mr. Sherman is in violation of the State Democratic Party Constitution ( particularly Article XIII provided below) for violating party principles through donations to the incumbent Republican Senator Roger Wicker less than a year before he seeks the Democratic nomination to oppose Mr. Wicker in the general election:
No candidate shall be certified to run in a Democratic Primary for any office:
(a) who has not met the statutory qualifications to run for such office;
(b) who is not in accord with the principles and rules of the Democratic Party of Mississippi as set forth in the Constitution and bylaws and the standard or principles of the Party; and
(c) who will not pledge to support the candidacy of all Party nominees at all levels running in the same general election for which nomination is being sought. No candidate, while holding elective office as a Democrat or as a Democratic Party official, shall be certified to run in a Democratic Primary for any office:
(a) who has participated in a primary of any other political party within the past twelve months by either voting or running for office in such primary; or
(b) who has within the preceding four years publicly or financially supported the election to office of any person not running as a Democrat.
7. Should Mr. Sherman secure the Democratic nomination, his previous financial contributions to his November opponent would create an unavoidable conflict of interest. The State Democratic Party could be left with a nominee who chose to withdraw and endorse the candidate he has already supported financially, or worse, remain on the ballot as the Democratic nominee but refuse to actively campaign…”
https://www.scribd.com/document/376814174/Petition-to-MDEC-on-Sherman-SBegley
Sherman actually admits that he gave money to Jeff Sessions and former Republican Senator Trent Lott, as well, but pretends that because his father supported JFK that he’s a Democrat! http://web.archive.org/web/20180619154503/https://shermanforsenate.org/record
“Wicker’s offices.
Map this | Directions To
U.S. Federal Courthouse
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Gulfport Office
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Tupelo Office
330 West Jefferson Street, Suite B
Tupelo, MS 38804
P.O. Box 3777
Tupelo, MS 38803
Main: (662) 844-5010
Fax: (662) 844-5030
Map this | Directions To
Hernando Office
321 Losher Street
Hernando, MS 38632
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Live in Vienna (1 December 2016)
30 Songs (3 Stunden und 7 Minuten) Veröffentlicht am 26. September 2017
Walk On - Monk Morph Music of the Chamber (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
The Hell Hounds of Krim (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Pictures of a City (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Dawn Song (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Suitable Grounds for the Blues (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
VROOOM (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
The ConstruKction of Light (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
The Court of the Crimson King (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
The Letters (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Sailor's Tale (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Interlude (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Radical Action II (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Level Five (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Fairy Dust of the Drumsons (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Peace (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Cirkus (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Indiscipline (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Epitaph (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Easy Money (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Devil Dogs of Tessellation Row (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Red (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Meltdown (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Pt. Two (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Starless (Live in Vienna, 1 December 2016)
Heroes (Live in Vienna 1 December 2016)
Fracture (Live in Vienna 1 December 2016)
21st Century Schizoid Man (Live in Vienna 1 December 2016)
Schoenberg Softened His Hat (Live in Vienna 1 December 2016)
Ahriman's Ceaseless Corruptions (Live in Vienna 1 December 2016)
Spenta's Counter Claim (Live in Vienna 1 December 2016)
℗© 2018 Robert Fripp on behalf of King Crimson
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Mosul Campaign Day 75, Dec 30, 2016
In the two days since the Mosul campaign officially restarted there has not been much movement. On the first day the Quds neighborhood in east Mosul was freed for the fourth time. On the second day a pharmaceutical plant in Bawiza outside of the Mosul to the north was liberated, and the Iraqi Forces (ISF) were trying to secure the Mosul-Tal Skurf road. The new plan is to attempt a double pincer move with army and police pushing from the north and south meeting with the Special Forces Golden Division in the center. So far the ISF have only been trying to secure areas that they have already freed or entered before.
On December 30 there was fighting Hadbaa in the north, Palestine, Intisar, Salam, Nassir, and Shaimaa in the southeast, and Quds and Karama in the center, while other units were trying to secure the areas they had already freed. The Islamic State counter attacked in Sukar, Falah, and Hadbaa in the north, Tamim in the center, and Nassir and Wahda in the southeast. In the process four suicide bombers were killed, and twenty-six car bombs were destroyed. Again, all of these areas have been fought over in the last two months.
The Iraqi press reported that the Islamic State was pulling its families out of the city and sending them west. Similar stories have been published since the start of the battle for Mosul in October to show that the insurgents were collapsing. The fight they’ve put up so far has shown that hasn’t happened yet.
The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times both had a pieces on the difficult job the security forces have screening people for Islamic State members and sympathizers. AP talked with a man from IS occupied west Mosul who was caught in east Mosul. The ISF thought he was an IS member and beat him to try to get him to confess. Other people complained that the government forces were not letting them return to liberated areas. The Los Angeles Times on the other hand observed the courts that have been set up to process people. Everyone claimed that they were innocent, but if a person testified against someone they were automatically sent to a criminal court. The judges hear dozens and dozens of cases each day. This is a very difficult process that can take a long time. There are some abuses going on, and some IS members are being missed, but it is necessary.
Finally, a Kurdish official complained again about being overwhelmed with casualties. Many of the ISF and civilian casualties from the Mosul campaign have been sent to hospitals in Irbil. Those facilities are running out of space and medicine for all of the people they are seeing. The Kurdish Health Minister Rekawt Hama Rashid said that over 13,500 have been treated so far, and they can’t take anymore. With only about 25% of Mosul occupied Irbil will have to make do or more hospitals will have to be opened because there is a lot more fighting laying ahead.
Adel, Loaa, "Army forces repel Islamic State's attack near Mosul," Iraqi News, 12/30/16
- “Iraqi forces face Islamic State car bombs, fierce resistance in south Mosul,” Iraqi News, 12/30/16
- “Islamic State abruptly evacuates its members from 4 areas near Mosul,” Iraqi News, 12/30/16
AIN, “Federal Police: 66 terrorists killed in Nassir neighborhood in left coast Mosul,” 12/30/16
- “Federal police chief: Daesh crumbles on the left coast neighborhoods and killed 25 of its leaders,” 12/30/16
- “Four Daesh leaders killed in the left coast Mosul,” 12/30/16
Al Alam, “Fresh VIDEO: Iraqi Army Forces Launch Massive Attacks against ISIS in Mosul,” 12/30/16
- “Fresh VIDEO: Iraqi Civilians Flee as Fighting against ISIS Resumes near Mosul,” 12/30/16
- “Join Forces Liberate 2 Villages, Kill 70 ISIS Members in Northern Mosul,” 12/30/16
Bas News, “Over 13,000 injured from Mosul Operation Received Treatment in KRG,” 12/30/16
Coles, Isabel and Kalin, Stephen, "Iraqi offensive launch second phase of Mosul offensive against Islamic State," Reuters, 12/29/16
Dunlop, W.G., “Iraq forces fight muddy street battle against IS in Mosul,” Agence France Presse, 12/30/16
Hendawi, Hamza, “Some in Mosul wary of return of Iraq’s government,” Associated Press, 12/30/16
Hennessy-Fiske, Molly, “These judges decide the fate of Islamic State fighters and collaborators,” Los Angeles Times, 12/29/16
Hicks, Tyler, “Along Mosul’s Front Line, Desperate Civilians and Dug-In troops and Fighters,” New York Times, 12/29/16
Kalin, Stephen, “Iraqi forces face fierce Islamic State combat in south Mosul,” Reuters, 12/30/16
Al Mada, "Anti-Terrorism forces destroy four car bombs left coast of Mosul," 12/30/16
- "Federal Police kill senior Daesh leader and blow up car bomb east Mosul," 12/30/16
- "Killing six Daesh members and destruction of car bomb southeast Mosul," 12/30/16
Al Maalomah, “War Media: The destruction of dozens of car bombs in Ninewa We Are Coming operation,” 12/30/16
Al Masalah, "Four suicide bombers killed trying to infiltrate village north Mosul," 12/30/16
- "Freed pharmaceutical plant north of Mosul," 12/30/16
- “Nineveh operations: left side of Mosul will be fully liberated,” 12/30/16
NINA, “/70/ terrorists killed, including the Military Commander of the north of the left coast of Mosul,” 12/29/16
- “Federal Police Forces Enter The Stadium Between Sumer and Palestine,” 12/29/16
- “More than /100/ elements of Daesh killed on the left coast of Mosul,” 12/29/16
- “Urgent../24/ terrorists killed within the south-eastern axis of Mosul,” 12/29/16
- “Urgent..The Anti-terrorism frees the first Al-Quds neighborhood in Mosul,” 12/29/16
Otten, Cathy, “Mosul residents face battle for survival,” UNHCR, 12/28/16
Rudaw, "Coalition strikes kill dozens of ISIS militants on second day of renewed Mosul operation," 12/30/16
Shafaaq News, “Army repels attack north Mosul, killing one Daesh member,” 12/30/16
- “Army repels Daesh attack on neighborhood of east Mosul,” 12/30/16
- “Battle of Mosul: tangible progress and the killing of tens of Daesh,” 12/30/16
- “Clear outline of Battle of Mosul.. The new target,” 12/30/16
- “Iraqi forces face fierce resistance from Daesh in south Mosul,” 12/30/16
- “Limited progress on second day of second phase of the Battle of Mosul,” 12/30/16
- “A security commander announced killing 25 foreign fighters and Daesh leader in the left coast of Mosul,” 12/30/16
- December 31, 2016 No comments:
Labels: Al Qaeda in Iraq, Insurgency, Mosul, Ninewa
The second phase of the Mosul campaign officially opened on December 29. Offensive operations actually started on December 24 when several east Mosul neighborhoods were attacked. The new push involves units from the Golden, 16th, 15th, 9th Divisions, along with the Federal Police, SWAT, and Hashd al-Watani, a militia backed by Turkey, which follows former Ninewa Governor Atheel Nujafi. There are three lines of attack, one from the northeast, one from the east, and another from the southeast. It appears the plan is to have the Golden Division supported by the army and Federal Police push in the middle to hold down Islamic State fighters, while the 9th and 16th Divisions, police and the Hashd al-Watani make a pincer move from the north and south encircling all of east Mosul. The U.S. just knocked out the last bridge crossing the Tigris River that connects west and east sides of the city to trap IS forces in the latter. It also blew up a makeshift boat bridge IS had constructed across the river. American artillery is also supporting the attack. The ISF is also shelling the city extensively in a change of tactics. Before the Iraqi forces were trying to keep civilian casualties low, but with their own losses mounting and the original push into the city having stalled it is now willing to accept the consequences.
Twenty-one neighborhoods were involved in the day’s operations, five of which were newly entered, with the other 16 having been liberated or attacked before. The Golden Division freed Quds in the east for the fourth time. IS has constantly re-infiltrate into areas, plus some have been declared liberated when they were not. The Iraqi Forces (ISF) for example found six IED factories in Gogjali an east Mosul suburb, which was entered at the very end of October, yet the insurgents were still working there two months later. During the days fighting 47 car bombs were destroyed and at least two suicide bombers killed. IS snipers also killed 15 people.
Neighborhoods In East Mosul Attacked Dec. 29, 2016
Quds – Originally attacked 11/1/16, freed 4 times
Karama – Originally attacked 10/31/16, freed 3 times
Intisar – Originally attacked 11/1/16, freed 3 times
Salam – Originally attacked 11/11/16, freed 2 times
Palestine – Originally attacked 11/13/16, freed 1 time
Hadbaa – Originally attacked 11/15/16
Nassir – Originally attacked 11/17/16
Sumer – Originally attacked 11/30/16
Wahda – Originally attacked 11/30/16
Sukar – Originally attacked 12/3/16, freed 1 time
Mithaq – Originally attacked 12/6/16
Shaimaa – Originally attacked 12/6/16
Dumiz – Originally attacked 12/6/16
Muthanna – Originally attacked 12/7/16, freed 1 time
Siha – Originally attacked 12/7/16, freed 1 time
Mazare – Originally attacked 12/19/16
Maqbara – Newly entered
Muhandis – Newly entered
Yarmja – Newly entered
Sinai – Newly entered
Madaat – Newly entered
In the north, outside of Mosul the army and Hashd al-Watani freed the towns of Tawila and Sadah. Eight car bombs were destroyed in the process. The first village had been declared liberated before on December 24.
The number of displaced people continued its upward trend. On October 20 there were just 5,640 people registered with the government and aid agencies. That jumped to 15,804 on October 27, 21,791 on November 3, 45,294 on November 10, 58,716 on November 17, 68,964 on November 24, 77,046 on December 1, 82,698 on December 8, 96,864 on December 15, 108,624 on December 22, and finally 116,292 by December 29. Those figures have fluctuated day to day as some people go back and more flee. On December 26 for example, there were 116,490 registered displaced, but that went down to 115,242 on December 27 before going back up the next two days. There are several hundred more that are homeless within the city, but have chosen to stay either because they want to be near their residences or are trapped by the fighting.
Adel, Loaa, "Army forces kill 20 IS members, destroy car bombs southeast of Nineveh," Iraqi News, 12/29/16
- “Iraqi forces killed 14 IS members east of Mosul,” Iraqi News, 12/19/16
- “Iraqi forces storm into 3 new neighborhoods in Mosul,” Iraqi News, 11/15/16
- "Joint forces liberate 2 villages, kill 70 IS members in northern Mosul," Iraqi News, 12/29/16
- "Nineveh Guards kill 9 IS members in northern Mosul," Iraqi News, 12/29/16
Agence France Presse, “Iraq forces in ‘second phase’ of east Mosul battle: commander,” 12/29/16
AIN, “Federal Police: 101 Daash killed total on the left coast of Mosul,” 12/29/16
- “International Alliance: Iraqi forces are making significant progress in Mosul,” 12/29/16
- “Killed about 200 terrorists in launching second phase of the liberation of the left coast of Mosul,” 12/29/16
- “Urgent counterterrorism forces liberate Kafat neighborhood on the left coast of Mosul,” 12/3/16
Al Alam, "Iraqi Forces Liberate Strategic ISIS-Held Regions in Nineveh Province," 12/27/16
Bas News, “Iraqi Forces Retake Two More Neighborhoods Eastern Mosul,” 12/6/16
BBC, “Mosul battle: Iraqi forces advance in fresh push,” 12/29/16
Al Forat, “24 Daash killed and destroyed eight car bombs in the south-east axis of Mosul,” 12/29/16
- “Federal Police kill about a hundred Daash and moving hundreds of feet into left coast of Mosul,” 12/29/16
- “Al Forat Announces incursion into five neighborhoods on Mosul’s left coast, and continued clearing of Tal Afar Airport,” 11/17/16
El-Ghobashy, Tamer and Nabhan, Ali, “Iraqi Forces Shift Tactics in Mosul as Forces Advance on New Fronts,” Wall Street Journal, 12/29/16
Hennessy-Fiske, Molly, “New phase begins in offensive to drive Islamic State out of key city of Mosul,” Los Angeles Times, 12/29/16
International Organization for Migration, “Displacement Tracking Matrix Emergency Tracking Factsheet #9 – Mosul Operations From 17 October To 29 December,” 12/29/16
Iraq News, "Details on the liberation operation in the remaining neighborhoods of the left coast of Mosul," 12/29/16
Iraq Oil Report, “Inside Mosul: Dec. 6, 2016,” 12/6/16
- “Inside Mosul: Dec. 7, 2016,” 12/7/16
- "Inside Mosul: Dec. 24-26, 2016," 12/28/16
- “Inside Mosul: Dec. 28, 2016,” 12/30/16
- "Inside Mosul: Nov. 1, 2016," 11/1/16
- “Inside Mosul: Nov. 5, 2016,” 11/5/16
- “Inside Mosul: Nov. 13, Nov. 13,” 11/13/16
- “Inside Mosul: Nov. 21, 2016,” 11/21/16
Kalin, Stephen and Chmaytelli, Maher, “Iraqi forces make first push into Mosul as offensive enters third week,” Reuters, 10/31/16
Al Maalomah, “Dozens of Daash dead in day’s operations in Ninewa We Are Coming,” 12/29/16
Al Mada, “Breaking into eight districts and increases pressure on Daesh on the left coast,” 11/11/16
- “Joint forces cleared a village and kill 70 Daesh members,” 12/29/16
- “Second phase of Mosul operations will move on several axes,” 12/29/16
- “The start of the second phase operation to clear the left coast of Mosul,” 12/29/16
Al Masalah, “Freed three neighborhoods in Mosul and two villages in Tal Afar,” 11/26/16
Mostafa, Mohamed, “Iraqi army engages in ferocious fights with ISIS east of Mosul,” Iraqi News, 12/6/16
NINA, “Anti-Terrorism Forces Storm 3 Residential Neighborhoods in Mosul, kill 16 Terrorists,” 11/30/16
- “Security Forces Liberate Sukkar Area North Of Mosul,” 12/15/16
Rojkan, Mira, “Joint Forces Continue to Advance, Liberating More Areas in Mosul,” Bas News, 12/4/16
Rudaw, “ISIS ‘defense wall” runs through eastern Mosul,” 12/29/16
- "LIVE UPDATE: Iraqi forces relaunch Mosul offensive, enter new neighborhood," 12/29/16
- “US soldiers pound ISIS in Mosul with M777 artillery shells,” 12/29/16
Xinhua, “Iraqi forces clear areas freed from IS in eastern Mosul,” 11/9/16
- "Iraqi forces free more districts in eastern Mosul," 11/4/16
- "Iraqi forces regain ground, kill 200 IS militants in new push to free Mosul," 12/29/16
Labels: Al Qaeda in Iraq, Insurgency, Mosul, Ninewa, Refugees
The Mosul campaign is back in action, which meant there was more heavy fighting. The Iraqi forces (ISF) attacked the Rafaq and Baladiyat neighborhoods in the northeast section of the city. The Islamic State on the other hand was counter attacking throughout Mosul and in four towns to the west and north. Inside the city it attacked the Hadbaa, Sumer, Zaytoun, Salam, and Police Academy with 6 car bombs and 5 suicide bombers. Noor was hit with mortars, and it blew up two of its police headquarters and the Salam Hospital in Wahda in the southeast. Three civilians were also killed by IS snipers. The new plan calls for the ISF to push in from the northeast, east, and southeast by the Golden, 9th and 16th Divisions along with some other army brigades, and the Federal Police and Ninewa police providing artillery and holding areas cleared.
There was more news on the displacement going on. The United Nations had 114,042 people registered with the government and aid groups. Roughly one thousand people are leaving their homes a day. The U.N. figures did not include people being displaced within Mosul because they do not sign up for assistance. On December 28 for example, IS was reported to be forcing residents out of four neighborhoods in northern Mosul. These citizens are staying within the city sheltering with others. That could easily add a few hundred more to the total.
Finally, from October 17 to December 28 4,279 have been killed and 8,028 wounded during the battle for Mosul in Ninewa. The Islamic State executed 2,727 people with the other 1,552 dying in the fighting. Civilians have faced the brunt of the casualties with 3,878 killed and 6,903 wounded. 250 members of the Iraqi forces, 82 Hashd, 65 Peshmerga, 2 Kurdish Counter Terrorism, 1 Hashd al-Watani, and 1 U.S. sailor have been killed, and 811 ISF, 253 Peshmerga, 59 Hashd, and 2 Hashd al-Watani have been wounded.
Mosul Campaign Casualties 10/17-12/28/16
4,279 Killed
1 U.S. Sailor, 1 Hashd al-Watani, 2 Kurd CT, 16 Police, 28 ISF, 65 Peshmerga, 82 Hashd, 206 Soldiers
3,878 Civilians
8,028 Wounded
2 Hashd al-Watani, 4 Police, 59, Hashd, 253 Peshmerga, 353 ISF, 454 Soldiers
2,727 Executed by the Islamic State
247 Killed, 156 Wounded by Coalition Air Strikes
Adel, Loaa, "Nineveh Operations repulses attack by 100 IS militants near Mosul," Iraqi News, 12/28/16
AIN, "Federal artillery destroyed three vehicles including a bob on the left coast of Mosul," 12/28/16
Hendawi, Hamza, “Iraqi Forces in Mosul Reinforced, New Push Against IS Soon,” Associated Press, 12/28/16
Mostafa, Mohamed, "Updated: army soldier killed in Islamic State attacks in Mosul," Iraqi News, 12/28/16
NINA, "/3/ youths killed by Daesh snipers when they tried to escape east of Mosul," 12/28/16
- "/7/ civilians killed in bombing by Daesh, and the Iraqi forces stormed two residential buildings in the northern axis of Mosul," 12/28/16
- "Daesh Blows Up 2 HQs And Emergency Center Of Salam Hospital Southeast of Mosul," 12/28/16
- "Iraqi Forces Repel An Attack To Daesh With Participation Of Dozens Of Suicide Bombers And Car Bombs North of Mosul," 12/28/16
- "The killing of 10 Daesh members and two vehicles west of Mosul," 12/28/16
- "Security Forces Destroy 3 Vehicles To Daesh In Mosul," 12/28/16
- "Seven terrorists killed and two vehicles belonging to them destroyed during repelling an attack to Daesh on a village west of Mosul," 12/28/16
Rudaw, "Iraqi forces repel two ISIS counterattacks in and around Mosul," 12/28/16
Shafaaq News, “Daesh forcing hundreds of civilians to evacuate their homes and displacement outdoors in four neighborhoods in Mosul,” 12/28/16
UN News Service, “Iraq: Nearly 115,000 people displaced, 50,000 children affected by Mosul military operation – UN,” 12/28/16
December 25 the Golden Division attacked the Quds district on the outskirts of east Mosul. On December 26 the Islamic State counter attacked there with three car bombs all of which were destroyed. This was the first movement by the Iraqi forces (ISF) in east Mosul in several days after they were paused to recover from two months of heavy fighting.
IS was also said to be changing their tactics inside the city. The group has been relentlessly shelling the eastern half of Mosul. Mortar fire for example, killed two civilians on December 26. Their firing positions however have been targeted by the U.S. led Coalition and Iraqi forces. The militants were now said to be mounting mortars on vehicles so that they could fire, quickly change positions and then fire again before they were spotted and destroyed.
The last two days air strikes have been blamed for civilian casualties inside Mosul. On December 26 seven civilians were wounded in one such incident. It can only be speculated whether this was done by the U.S. led Coalition or the Iraqis.
All of the rest of the news was on plans for the new Mosul campaign. Reuters said that U.S. troops would be inside Mosul itself to provide front line targeting for air strikes and advice to the Iraqi forces. It along with Iraqi News also noted that more troops and police were moving into eastern Mosul to reinforce the units already there, while Al Alam reported that the ISF were fortifying their positions in northern and eastern Mosul.
Adel, Loaa, “Commander: Military reinforcements arrive in Mosul,” Iraqi News, 12/26/16
Al Alam, “Over 70 ISIS Terrorists Killed by Iraqi Forces Counter Attack in Mosul,” 12/26/16
Al Forat, "The destruction of three car bombs left coast Mosul," 12/26/16
Kalin, Stephen, “Exclusive: Fresh advance in east Mosul to begin within days – U.S. commander,” Reuters, 12/26/16
Al Maalomah, "The death of two civilians, shelling by Daesh criminals central Mosul," 12/26/16
Rudaw, “US general praises ‘remarkably disciplined’ Shiite forces,” 12/26/16
Shafaaq News, "Wounding seven civilians from one family in air strike east Mosul," 12/26/16
Labels: Al Qaeda in Iraq, Insurgency, Mosul, Ninewa, Obama Administration
There was some movement on the eastern and western fronts. The Iraqi forces (ISF) freed two towns in the east, while the Hashd liberated a village in the west. The Ghazlani base in southern Mosul continued to be shelled as well. Some Iraqi papers claimed this showed that the Mosul campaign was back in action, but as of now this appeared to be more like minor clearing operations. Otherwise, the Golden Division was removing IEDs from the Zuhur neighborhood in east Mosul, and the Hashd was still working on securing the roads around Tal Afar. Members of Kataib Hezbollah and the Imam Ali Brigades said that bad weather was slowing their operations. A bigger factor was that they are in a holding position around Tal Afar because the army and police have not organized any forces to take the town itself.
The Iraqi forces continued to plan for the next phase of the operation. They are being reinforced in the east. That included U.S. forces moving up towards the front. American Special Forces have been advising the ISF and calling in air strikes. U.S. apache helicopters and artillery have been supporting the advance as well, along with other Coalition air forces. In one day for instance, a reporter from Foreign Policy noted there were 43 planes from 9 countries over Mosul carrying out various missions from air strikes to jamming communications to re-fueling.
The Islamic State continued to force people from their homes in east Mosul. Al Alam reported that around 250 families were told to leave the Jazir area. IS has been trying to get people to follow their retreat to be used as human shields, while converting the abandoned buildings into firing positions.
On a positive note, a Christmas mass was held in the town of Bartella for the first time in two years. The town was taken by the Islamic State in 2014 and freed in October 2016. Unfortunately the town remains mostly abandoned and destroyed. Almost all the people that attended the service travelled there from Kurdistan where they have been staying since the insurgents swept through the area.
Al Alam, "Bombings, Mortar Attacks Claim 10 Lives Across Iraq," 12/24/16
Face Iraq, “Sources: US ground forces and Apache helicopters in northern Mosul front with the resumption of fighting,” 12/24/16
Al Forat, "Nineveh Operaions: Progress on northern axis and control of road south of Tal Afar to Sinjar, west Mosul,' 12/24/16
Al Maalomah, “Counter-terrorism forces destroying explosives left by Daesh criminals in east Mosul,” 12/24/16
- “Hezbollah Brigades and Imam Ali Brigade reveal reasons for the slowdown of operation on the western axis,” 12/24/16
MacDiarmid, Campbell, “The Battle to Retake Mosul Is Stalemated,” Foreign Policy, 12/22/16
Rudaw, “Christian town east of Mosul celebrates first Christmas post-ISIS,” 12/24/16
Mosul Campaign Day 68, Dec. 23, 2016
There was movement on the northern front for the first time since the start of the month. The Iraqi forces (ISF) cleared the Police Academy and vehicle registration directorate building north of Mosul. The ISF had not done anything in that sector since December 5 when three villages were freed. Northern forces were supposed to organize to take the town of Tal Afar in the west and attack the northern neighborhoods of Mosul in November, but have been stalled. Some units have been shifted to east Mosul instead in recent weeks.
The Iraqi air force dropped more flyers over Mosul. This was a mix of official statements by the government and letters written by citizens. The official ones told people to be patient and that victory was close. The others were personal letters of support for the residents of the city. The ISF has leafleted over Mosul several times before.
Iraqi commanders continue to give contradictory statements about the state of the campaign. General Abdul al-Assadi from the Golden Division told the media that the ISF was planning for a new push to free the rest of eastern Mosul. The commander of Iraqi ground forces on the other hand, General Riyadh Tawfiq claimed there was no pause, but then said in a few days there would be new operations. Due to stiff Islamic State resistance, exhaustion, casualties, lack of supporting troops, police, and Hashd to hold areas freed, and apparent reluctance by some officers to move forward, all fronts have largely halted although fighting continues.
The New York Times featured an article about the future for Christians in Ninewa. Several Christian towns such as Qaraqosh and Bartella have been freed during the campaign, but the piece questioned how many people would return to them. Christian militias who secured some of those areas said they were still afraid of Islamic State attacks, and most villages were destroyed. Since 2003 the Christian population of Iraq has been devastated due to violence. IS’s take over of most of Ninewa in 2014 was just the latest time they were targeted and forced to flee their homes. Many have resettled in other parts of the country or left Iraq overall and those trends only look to be continuing.
Finally the Irbil health directorate provided new information on casualties in Iraq. Many of the wounded from the fighting in east Mosul are sent to that city’s health facilities. With the new data a total of 4,153 people have been killed in Ninewa since the start of the Mosul campaign on October 17, and 7,908 wounded. Roughly 65% of the dead were the result of Islamic State executions, 2,717. When the operation started, the group was forcing people from southern villages to retreat with them towards Mosul to be used as human shields. Later the group separated the men, especially former members of the security forces and carried out mass shootings. Another 247 people have lost their lives and 156 wounded in Coalition air strikes. The real figures are higher due to government censorship and lack of access to the frontlines and areas held by the Islamic State.
Mosul Campaign Casualties 10/17/16-12/22/16
1 U.S. Sailor, 1 Hashd al-Watani, 2 Kurd CT, 4 ISF, 11 Police, 65 Peshmerga, 82 Hashd, 189 Soldiers, 3,798 Civilians
2 Hashd al-Watani, 4 Police, 59 Hashd, 253 Peshmerga, 353 ISF, 446 Soldiers, 6,791 Civilians
247 civilians killed, 156 wounded by Coalition air strikes
Kalin, Stephen, “U.S. forces embedding more to help Iraqis retake Mosul – commander,” Reuters, 12/23/16
Al Maalomah, "Foiled suicide attack In Qayyarah," 12/23/16
- "Freed the Police Academy and Directorate of Vehicle Registration north of Mosul," 12/24/16
- "Iraqi aircraft destroyed car bomb targeting federal police southwest of Mosul," 12/23/16
NINA, “Commander of the anti-terrorism device: The next few days will witness the announcement of the liberation of left coast entirely,” 12/22/16
- “Commander of the ground troops confirms from Karbala: No stop of military operations in Mosul,” 12/22/16
Ponomarev, Sergey and Arango, Tim, “For Liberated Iraqi Christians, Still a Bleak Christmas,” New York Times, 12/23/16
Rudaw, “Iraqis send four million letters of love and support to people of Mosul,” 12/23/16
- “UPDATED: Tens of civilians killed in triple ISIS car bomb east of Mosul,” 12/22/16
Sotaliraq, "Killing and wounding 18 civilians shelled by Daesh east Mosul," 12/23/16
- "Security forces advancing on police academy north of Mosul," 12/23/16
Labels: Al Qaeda in Iraq, Christians, Insurgency, Mosul, Ninewa
Almost all the combat news on December 22 from the Mosul campaign originated with the Islamic State. Three suicide car bombs hit a market in Gogjali, an east Mosul suburb, which left 30 dead and 60 wounded. Mortar fire also killed 11 in east Mosul, including four aid workers. The Golden Division was involved in heavy clashes in the Tamim neighborhood, which has been cleared twice before. The Federal Police continued its shelling of the Ghazlani camp in south Mosul. Finally, the insurgents attempted to break the encirclement of Tal Afar to the west, but the Hashd turned it back. The Mosul operation is currently in a pause. The eastern forces are being reinforced and re-supplied before they re-start their push into the city. The northern and southern fronts have been stalled for a month a half because they didn’t have police or local Hashd units to hold most of the ground they took. Some of the units that did show up were not up to the task requiring the army to stay in place and clear and hold the areas they had taken. Some units also reportedly did not want to enter Mosul afraid of the heavy casualties they might take. In the west, the Hashd were taking towns around Tal Afar but the army and police haven’t organized any forces to take the town itself. That left almost all the heavy fighting in the east and the Golden Division supported by some army brigades. Now that front is at a standstill as well with fighting over areas already entered. More army and police units are now being shifted to their sector to back them up, and a southern thrust at Mosul is supposed to be in the making as well.
The slow down in operations is leading some Hashd to call for their participation in the urban fighting. A Hashd spokesman and the secretary general of the Hezbollah al-Nujaba were both quoted as saying that the Hashd should enter Mosul. The Iraqi government wanted the Iraqi forces to free the city because it was not only better suited for urban warfare, but it could also help win over the population to Baghdad. As a result an agreement was made to keep the Hashd out. With the fighting dragging on and heavy casualties there will be increasingly pressure from some Hashd to join in despite the deal.
Inside Mosul the Islamists were said to be destroying and looting parts of the Mosul University as well as continuing with the practice of forcing people out of their homes to turn their areas into combat zones. The school used to be one of Iraq’s best higher learning institutions, but now IS is blowing parts of it up as it has done in other sections of the city. Meanwhile in Rabia neighborhood the militants were forcing people to leave for the western side of the city. Their homes will likely be converted into battle positions.
More stories came out on the cost of the Mosul operation. The West Irbil Emergency Hospital told the Associated Press that on days of heavy fighting they could see up to 100 patients. Rudaw quoted the head of the Irbil Health Department that 7,595 people had been treated in the city’s hospitals since the start of the Mosul campaign in the middle of October. That was 3,000 more than had previously been mentioned in the media. Overall that means that roughly 12,000 people have been killed and wounded in Ninewa so far.
Finally, the number of displaced is about to pass the 110,000 mark by next week. The International Organization for Migration’s latest fact sheet showed that the number of people registered with the government or aid groups climbed from 99,394 on December 16 to 108,625 by December 22. During that time span around 1,000 people were fleeing their homes and seeking out help per day. That does not include the hundreds of people sheltering within Mosul itself. When military operations ramp back up that figure will only increase.
Adel, Loaa, "Islamic State claims suicide car bombs that killed at least 23 east of Mosul," Iraqi News, 12/22/16
Al Alaem, “Daesh organization destroyed the University of Mosul and plunders its contents,” 12/22/16
Hendawi, Hamza, “After years fleeing IS, tragedy hits Iraqi family in Mosul,” Associated Press, 12/22/16
International Organization for Migration, “Displacement Tracking Matrix, Emergency Tracking – Fact Sheet #8 – Mosul Operations from 17 October to 22 December,” 12/22/16
Iraq News Network, “Asadi: coordination between Suleimani and Abadi over the popular crowd’s involvement in the liberation of Mosul city center,” 12/22/16
Iraq Oil Report, “Inside Mosul, Dec. 10, 2106,” 12/10/16
- “Inside Mosul, Dec. 22, 2016,” 12/22/16
Iskakova, Botagoz, “Iraqi Troops Fighting in Mosul to Be Re-armed,” Bas News, 12/22/16
Al Maalomah, “Nujaba calls to allow the popular crowd to enter Mosul and for the expulsion of the Americans to end the battle quickly,” 12/22/16
Mostafa, Mohamed, “Update: Iraqi troops liberate 28 districts in eastern Mosul,” Iraqi News, 12/9/16
Rudaw, “UPDATED: Tens of civilians killed in triple ISIS car bomb east of Mosul,” 12/22/16
Shafaaq News, “The arrival of military reinforcements to the north of Mosul, a prelude to the resumption of operations,” 12/22/16
Sotaliraq, "Death toll in suicide attacks in Kokjla rise to 23 dead," 12/22/16
- "Popular crowd destroyed a Daash convoy trying to open the security cordon around Tal Afar," 12/22/16
Xinhua, "At least 25 killed in 3 suicide attacks in Iraq's Mosul," 12/22/16
The Iraqi authorities have released contradictory statements about the current pace of the Mosul campaign. At the start of December the Iraqi forces (ISF) said they were halting their operations, but that was later denied. The reality on the ground shows that things have almost ground to a halt. U.S. Air Force General Matthew Isler told Reuters that the ISF were in an operational pause to refit and resupply before they renewed their push into Mosul. While there has been fighting across eastern Mosul each day with two car bombs destroyed and mortars killing 10 civilians and wounding 34 others on December 21, there has been little news of any real advances for the last few days.
What has been happening is preparation for a new push, while trying to secure the liberated areas. A military source said that the Golden Division was looking for weak points in the Islamic State’s defenses in Mosul to be exploited when operations start up again, while the Ghazlani camp in the south has been shelled for three days now. Finally, the Golden Division was turning over areas of east Mosul to newly arrived police that have been shifted from the south into the city. That will free up units to rejoin the fight.
Rudaw interviewed General Fazil Barwari of the Golden Division about the progress in Mosul. Barwari noted that several parts of the operation have not gone as planned. Local leaders in the city told the government that there would be a popular uprising against the Islamic State once the Iraqi forces arrived, but that didn’t happen. The ISF also expected civilians to flee conflict areas, but they didn’t making the fighting all that more difficult. Finally, the original plan was to take the city in two months. Barwari told Rudaw that there were still routes from Mosul to Syria, and that IS has received reinforcements from Syria. That contradicted statements by the Hashd who have repeatedly said they have cut IS’s supply lines to Syria. It’s obvious that the Mosul battle has been more difficult than many expected. Optimistic statements about the city being freed by the end of the year and IS defenses collapsing are slowly giving way to more realistic predictions that there are still weeks more of fighting ahead.
Finally, Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 50 people from east Mosul who experienced a variety of attacks by the Islamic State as they attempted to flee the fighting. As the government forces advanced IS men went from house to house asking civilians if they would flee with them. Those that did not were labeled traitors and unbelievers and told that they would suffer as a result. IS has been targeting areas along the front and liberated ones as well with mortars and sniper fire. This has been documented by the Iraqi and international press as well. Almost every day the insurgents are firing mortars and causing civilian casualties.
Adel, Loaa, “Federal Police shells IS camp near Guzlani, kills dozens of terrorists,” Iraqi News, 12/21/16
Ahmed, Hevidar, “’Urban war is not easy,’ commander of Iraq’s elite Golden Division force,” Rudaw, 12/21/16
AIN, “Urgent anti-terrorism commander: starting to hand over liberated neighborhoods in Mosul to the police,” 12/21/16
Al Alam, "44 civilians killed and injured in ISIS Mortar Attack in Mosul," 12/21/16
Face Iraq, “Joint Operations: we are trying to open gapsto enter the rest of the neighborhoods on the left coast of Mosul,” 12/21/16
Al Forat, "The destruction of Daesh car bomb southeast Mosul," 12/21/16
Human Rights Watch, “Iraq: ISIS Attacking Civilians in Mosul Retreat,” 12/20/16
Kalin, Stephen, “Iraqi forces in Mosul mostly in refit mode: U.S. general,” Reuters, 12/21/16
There was fighting in east Mosul but no news of any advances. The Islamic State fired mortars into three neighborhoods, and launched two suicide bombers who were killed. Around 250 homes in the Bakr neighborhood have been abandoned due to the constant shelling. The Iraqi forces (ISF) were also firing artillery at south Mosul. For the second day Ghazlani was hit. The southern front has been stalled for almost a month and a half now, and this artillery fire was one of the first signs of life. Al Sumaria also reported that families in the western half of the city were afraid that IS groups were abducting young boys to force them into service. The insurgents are suffering heavy losses in the fighting, so they may be enforcing a kind of draft on the population to bring in more fighters.
The Associated Press interviewed members of the Golden Division about how the battle for Mosul was going. Soldiers said in previous battles the Islamic State fortified specific areas. That was not so in Mosul. There IS has set up small units to cover areas who use tunnels and routes through houses to attack the Iraqi forces who move through neighborhoods in columns of vehicles, and then scurry off to another position. These fire and maneuver tactics have been able to hold up the ISF. The fighting has also been costly. A medic interviewed said that on average he was seeing 18 ISF casualties per day just in his sector. It is these losses that are worrying. The Golden Division is doing almost all of the fighting in east Mosul and if it continues to suffer heavy losses it could debilitate the force. Part of the 9th Division is the only other unit in the city in combat. South Mosul is supposed to be attacked soon, but it appears to be still a work in progress.
The insurgents also launched attacks in the south and west, and more of their dirty work was discovered. 2 car bombs were destroyed in the Aub Saif area in the south, and another town was attacked. The Tal Afar airport in the west was assaulted for a second day in a row. In the Hamam al-Alil area to the south of the Mosul another mass grave was found with around ten bodies in it. Before the area fell to the Iraqi forces, the militants took hundreds of people to the area, and executed a large number of men. Many more victims are likely to be discovered.
The Qayara oil fields south of Mosul were set ablaze by the retreating insurgents. The North Oil Company has been able to put out 41 wells so far, but there were still others burning. This is causing huge clouds of toxic fumes to spread over the area for two months now causing unknown environmental and human damage.
The number of displaced has passed the 100,000 mark. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) had 106,692 people registered so far. Each week around 10,000 people are fleeing their homes, and almost all of these are from the Mosul district. Still more are not signed up with the government or aid agencies and are moving within Mosul itself. This situation is only getting worse with only a very few returning so far.
Al Alam, "Iraqi Forces Discover another Mass Grave in Mosul," 12/20/16
Face Iraq, "Federal police chief announced destroying two car bombs south of Mosul and shipment of aid to Hamdaniya Hospital," 12/20/16
Al Forat, “Ninewa we are coming operaitons command: continue clearing roads and buildings of explosives,” 12/20/16
George, Susannah, “Fight for a Mosul district shows Iraqis’ slow, painful slog,” 12/19/16
International Organization for Migration, “Over 106,000 iraqis Displaced by Mosul Operations: Kuwait Donates USD 4 Million in Aid,” 12/20/16
Rudaw, “Iraqi and Hashd forces repel ISIS attacks west and south of Mosul,” 12/20/16
Shafaq News, "Nineveh police kill suicide bomber tried to sneak into Gogjali," 12/20/16
Al Sumaria, “’Black detachments’ worry the people of Mosul after the disappearance of boys and teenagers in the right coast,” 12/20/16
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, “Iraq Situation: Flash Update – 19 December 2016,” 12/20/16
Mosul Campaign Day 54, Dec 9, 2016
4,360 Dead, 3,920 Wounded In Iraq November 2016
Mosul Campaign Day 45, Nov 30, 2016
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About My Favorite Murder
My Favorite Murder is the hit true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Since its inception in early 2016, the show has broken download records and sparked an enthusiastic, interactive “Murderino” fan base who come out in droves for their sold-out shows worldwide.
A top 10 regular on iTunes’ comedy podcast chart, My Favorite Murder has been featured in Entertainment Weekly, The Atlantic, Nylon and Rolling Stone magazine.
Aside from being avid true crime enthusiasts, Karen Kilgariff is a stand-up comedian and television writer and Georgia Hardstark is a writer and host for the Cooking Channel.
Order 'Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered: The Definitive How-to Guide'
The highly anticipated first book by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, the voices behind the #1 hit podcast My Favorite Murder!
Sharing never-before-heard stories ranging from their struggles with depression, eating disorders, and addiction, Karen and Georgia irreverently recount their biggest mistakes and deepest fears, reflecting on the formative life events that shaped them into two of the most followed voices in the nation.
"A book filled with all the best advice your mother never told you." —Jenny Lawson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Furiously Happy
"Kilgariff and Hardstark bring a much needed dimension to our current, true crime fever dream—an empathetic, slangy dose of acidic humor, weary compassion, and nervous hope. Their podcast is a joy to listen to and this book captures its energy and hilarity perfectly. You'll never be as sexy as Karen or Georgia, but there is a chance they'll keep you from being murdered." —Patton Oswalt, comedian, actor, New York Times bestselling author of Silver Screen Fiend
Order 'Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered'
Exclusive Barnes and Noble Edition
Indigo Exclusive Edition
Booktopia Australia
Mightyape New Zealand
Libro.fm
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Tag: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Top Ten Thursday: Brilliant Babes of Song (Our Favorite Female Singer-Songwriters)
There is nothing that turns me on more than a hot female musician, and in turn, there is nothing better than writing an entire article dedicated to these women of music. This list is partially in honor to the brilliant new efforts put forth by Fiona Apple, as well as inspiration from recently seeing acts such as Feist and St. Vincent, and topped off by the new Cat Power track that served as an announcement for her forthcoming album that will be released later in the year. This was one of our toughest lists we have compiled yet, and we all felt very strongly about the artists chosen. Unfortunately acts like St. Vincent, and Karen O were not able to be taken into consideration due to the fact that a majority of there compositions are collaborative efforts. Nonetheless, we feel very strongly that the ladies listed below are worthy of the praise they have received, and in some cases, worthy of more.
Continue reading “Top Ten Thursday: Brilliant Babes of Song (Our Favorite Female Singer-Songwriters)”
Author ToddPosted on June 21, 2012 June 21, 2012 Categories Top Ten Thursday, Top TensTags best of, Bob Dylan, bob dylan cover, carole king, Cat Power, Chan Marshall, Dolly Parton, Erykah Badu, Feist, females, Fiona Apple, Girls, Jenny Lewis, Joanna Newsom, joni mitchell, Kate Bush, ke$sh, kesha, lauren hill, Lauryn Hill, leslie feist, list of, mr. belvedere, patti smith, paul thomas anderson, singer songwriter, singer-songwriters, singers, the mis, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Top Ten13 Comments on Top Ten Thursday: Brilliant Babes of Song (Our Favorite Female Singer-Songwriters)
Top Ten Thursday: The Sophomore Slump
The sophomore album. There is almost always exponentially more anticipation and expectations for a band or artist’s second album. We at LxL thought that those expectations would lead to a lot of massively disappointing second efforts. Interestingly enough, after a lot of research, we were pleased to discover that the sophomore album failure rate is really not all that high. Despite this welcome discovery, there were still enough clunkers to make a list of the most disappointing follow-up albums. Note that this list does not contain the worst all-time sophomore albums, but instead the albums that did not live up to the expectations brought on by a great or promising debut. As always, fill in the blanks with any albums we may have left off the list, or call us out for albums you think should not have been included. Enjoy!
10. Raekwon – Immobilarity
So your two best friends are RZA and Ghostface Killah, and you’ve just released your debut smash, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. What should you do next? I’ll tell you what you don’t do. You don’t bypass one of the greatest hip-hop producers since the genre’s genesis (RZA). You also don’t fail to utilize a rapper that fits snugly between Biggy and Jay-Z in the holy triumvirate of New York rappers (Ghostface). Fail.
Continue reading “Top Ten Thursday: The Sophomore Slump”
Author AustinPosted on May 3, 2012 May 3, 2012 Categories Top Ten Thursday, Top TensTags Alanis Morisette, Amish, Anne Heche, Biggy, Blur, Cialis, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Cosmic Egg, Cracked Rear View, Double Up, Elevator, Fairweather Johnson, Forever, Ghostface Killah, Gloria, Harlem World, Hootie & the Blowfish, Hootie and the Blowfish, Hot Hot Heat, I Was Hoping, I'm Tired of Sex, Immobilarity, Jagged Little Pill, Jay-Z, jimi hendrix, John Leckie, Langerado, Lauryn Hill, Ma$e, Make Up the Breakdown, Mase, Michael Jordan, New York Rappers, Oasis, October, One Way Ticket to Hell...and Back, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Permission to Land, Pinkerton, Puff Daddy, raekwon, Rivers Cuomo, RZA, Scottie Pippen, Second Coming, Some Loud Thunder, Sophomore Slump, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, Television, Thank U, The Blue Album, The Clash, The Darkness, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, The Stone Roses, u2, Weezer, Wolfmother4 Comments on Top Ten Thursday: The Sophomore Slump
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Evolution denial, History
Bryan’s Quartet, Part 3
In a so far successful effort to avoid having to unpack a bunch of boxes that are cluttering my office at the moment, I’m talking about four scientists cited in a footnote in William Jennings Bryan’s In His Image (1922), evidently to support Bryan’s assertion, “If Darwin had described his doctrine as a guess instead of calling it an hypothesis, it would not have lived a year.” They are Robert Etheridge, Albert Fleischmann, and William Bateson, discussed in part 1, and Lionel S. Beale, discussed in part 2. In the preceding posts, I offered sporadic criticism of Bryan for his handling of these scientists, but here I’m going to adopt a systematic approach, listing seven desiderata—accuracy, provenance, currency, venue, expertise, relevance, and representativeness—for judging such citations of scientists, and assessing how well Bryan fares when judged accordingly.
Accuracy. Are the citations accurate? In particular, are the scientists properly quoted? If not, are the inaccuracies harmless?
Bryan’s quotation of Etheridge is not verbatim, and there’s reason to believe that it didn’t reflect Etheridge’s sentiments (as I suggested in part 4 of “Dr. Etheridge, Fossilologist”). His quotations of Fleischmann and Beale are not accurate, but they seem to reflect Fleischmann’s and Beale’s sentiments accurately. His paraphrase of Bateson is accurate. For accuracy, I assign Bryan 6.5 points out of 10.
Provenance. Is enough information provided about the citations to allow the reader to locate the passage in question?
In three of the four citations, Bryan fails to provide the first name of the scientist, the title of the article or book in which the quotation is to be found, and the year of the publication. These data are provided only for the most recent citation, from Bateson. Of course, a lecture is not the place for bibliographical rigor, but in preparing the lecture for publication it would not have been arduous for Bryan to supply the missing information. Except for the fact that, at least for the Etheridge quotation, he couldn’t have had it! For provenance, I assign Bryan 5 points out of 10.
Currency. How recent are the citations?
Bryan’s citations are from 1885 (Etheridge), 1903 (Fleischmann), 1921 (Bateson), and 1903 (Beale), so the average age is 18 years. Only the Bateson citation can be plausibly claimed to reflect a current scientific opinion, although it’s true that Fleischmann, at least, continued to produce antievolution literature, e.g., “The Doctrine of Organic Evolution in the Light of Modern Research,” published in the Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute in 1933. For currency, I assign Bryan 5 points out of 10.
Venue. Are the cited scientists addressing a scientific audience, where the standards of evidence are (or at any rate are supposed to be) higher?
Bryan’s citations are to a private conversation (Etheridge), a book (Fleischmann), a lecture to a scientific society (Bateson), and a lecture to a religious society with a bias against evolution, the Victoria Institute (Beale). These vary in value, but none is from a venue with a level of rigor comparable to today’s peer-reviewed scientific research literature. For venue, I assign Bryan 5.5 points out of 10.
Expertise. Are the cited scientists experts in relevant fields?
Etheridge was a reputable paleontologist, although not one who published professionally on evolutionary topics; Fleischmann was a reputable developmental biologist; Beale was a reputable physiologist and anatomist, although not one who published professionally on evolutionary topics; Bateson was a leading geneticist. For expertise, I assign Bryan 9 points out of 10.
Relevance. Do the citations establish what they are intended to establish?
Here I’m not interested so much in whether the scientists cited by Bryan agree that “hypothesis” is synonymous with “guess” as in whether they agree that Darwin’s hypothesis—“the hypothesis that links man to the lower forms of life and makes him a lineal descendant of the brute,” as Bryan describes it—is no better than a guess. For Etheridge, Fleischmann, and Beale, Bryan’s citations seem fair. Bateson, however, was expressing agnosticism “as to the actual mode and processes of evolution,” not about evolution itself: “Our doubts are not as to the reality or truth of evolution, but as to the origin of species, a technical, almost domestic problem” (emphasis in original). For relevance, I assign Bryan 8 points out of 10.
Representativeness. Are the cited scientists representative of the scientific consensus, if they are portrayed as such?
If Bryan had claimed that the four scientists he cited represented a minority position, perhaps a viciously persecuted or unjustly ignored position, in the scientific community, then there would be no cause for complaint here. But by citing them as scientific authorities without any such proviso, he presents them as representative of the scientific consensus, which, clearly, they were not. In the same year that In His Image was published, for example, the American Association for the Advancement of Science issued a statement supporting the teaching of evolution; even if it appeared too late for Bryan to take account of it, he could not have been ignorant of the scientific consensus. (Bryan joined the AAAS in late 1924, by the way, although it’s not clear why; James Gilbert speculates, in his Redeeming Culture [1998], “Perhaps he joined the AAAS as a public gesture, designed to advertise his position or maybe as a defiant declaration of principle: from a saint in a laboratory coat.”) So abjectly unrepresentative are these scientists that, for representativeness, I assign Bryan 0 points out of 10.
Without weighting the categories, Bryan’s grade for his use of these four citations is a failing grade, 5.6 out of 10. I would be inclined to weight accuracy and provenance a little less, and weight expertise and relevance a little more, than the other categories, which might kick the grade up a little, but still not into the passing zone. In any case, here’s a table showing the component grades I assigned.
representativeness
Bateson
(overall)
(unweighted
average)
Feel free to copy it and to change the values in the boxes to reflect your views, if you care about Bryan’s particular citations. Even if you don’t, feel free to apply the same rubrics to further collections of citations of scientists that supposedly reject evolution—my hope is that these seven categories will prove to be of wider use. And speaking of boxes, I suppose that I really must return to my unpacking…
In Israel, Will Creationists Reign?
Congratulations to Naomi Oreskes, 2015 Friend of the Planet Winner
(-) Remove March 24, 2015 filter March 24, 2015
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Neatonian Spotlight of the Month: Jorgen Thynell
Jorgen Thynell (March 2018)
This monthly series spotlights an amazing member of the team here at Neato. We take a moment to get to know the people behind the scenes, the robots and the business…Let’s meet our NEATONIANS!
Jorgen Thynell is a six-year Neatonian with a proven track record for success. He manages sales for Northern and Eastern Europe and works to ensure that Neato’s presence is not only known within those markets, but that it continues to expand and grow. Jorgen’s knowledge of the industry and strong sales acumen have helped to propel his business over the last six years and, according to those who work with him, he is just getting started.
Jorgen may be a one-man Neato team at the office in Sweden, but the Thynell team at home consists of his wife and two daughters, aged 12 and 13 years old. Let’s find out more about Jorgen outside of Neato.
They have taught me to not take anything for granted, and to be honest and patient.
— On what he has learned through coaching his daughter’s hockey team
What is the first concert that you have ever attended?
Depeche Mode in 1983. I was 14 years old and went with a few of my friends. I remember that there were only 1,500 people watching them.
If you could only drink one beer for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Staropramen, it’s a Czech Pilsner, and it’s my favorite beer. Perfect to drink on a warm summers day.
What is the last book you read?
Masse: To Hell and Back Again by Marcus Birro and Mats Magnusson. It’s a story about a Swedish Soccer Player.
If given a chance, who would you like to be for a day and why?
I’d like to be… (chuckles a bit), I’d like to be Henrik Lundqvist, goalie for the New York Rangers. He is the king of Madison Square Garden. Everyone is always shouting his name, fans even named him the King. He is such a cool guy.
Not knowing who Henrik was I watched a few a interviews and videos and I think we may all want to be him!
What are a few songs that would play in the soundtrack to your life?
Let Me Entertain You by Robbie Williams, Beautiful Day by U2 and Alive by Pearl Jam.
I’d like to be Henrik Lundqvist, goalie for the New York Rangers. He is the king of Madison Square Garden
— Who Jorgen would like to be for the day
What is something about you that we would find surprising?
I am the head coach of a girls’ floor hockey team – it’s like hockey but you don’t use skates, you just use running shoes, and it’s based indoors. I am currently coaching my youngest daughter’s team, which consists of seventeen girls, aged 12-13 years old. Coaching is a way to take my mind off of work and everything else.
Wow, coaching 17 teenage girls?…I imagine that to be both challenging and rewarding. What have the girls taught you?
Would you rather be a tiny elephant or a giant hamster?
A giant hamster. (laughs)….Were you drunk when you were making up these questions? (laughs) A giant hamster because I don’t want to be tiny.
Please finish this phrase… “I’m happiest when…”
…I am having a good dinner with my friends.
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PSA: Review Scores are Pointless
The issue of review scores for video games isn’t something that new. People’s obsession with a higher number to validate their opinion of a product is nothing new. Scores are not the bane of the reviewing industry. They work as good gauges of quantifying the quality of a product. If I glance at a game, and it has an 8/10 rating, then I know that is a good rating.
BUT Y’ALL GOT TO CALM DOWN ABOUT THESE THINGS MAN.
Let me take you all back to the past. This is a story older than time itself. It’s 2006. The period where nothing was happening other than the economic recession being put into place. Mid 2000s, a terrifying time where absolutely nothing happened. Time just stopped for 7 years. AVGN was in his prime, and YouTube was just being established. And there was a little game called Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. This game was a launch title for the Nintendo Wii and promised to be a system seller. It utilized new, motion control technology for swordplay, and it was a very well reviewed game. It currently sits at an astounding 95/100 average rating on Metacritic. But there was one reviewer, from Gamespot, who dared to challenge this regime. Jeff Gerstmann, who was a GameSpot employee at the time, DARED to give Twilight Princess an 8.8/10.
Now if you’re a regular person, you see this and go: “8.8? That’s like an A rating. That’s a great grade!” To which I say, yes. Yes you are correct. But for the gaming community, this did not do. Jeff Gerstmann was lambasted by the gaming community for not having the audacity to provide it with the perfect rating.
The greatness that is the GameFAQs boards
Some highlights of these GameFAQs posts are: “EIGHT POINT ******** EIGHT?!?!?”, “lol!……8.8”, “JEFF IF YOU CAN SEE THESE POSTS YOU BETTER FIND A NEW JOB U FAT ASS”, and a petition, on a forum message board, for people to sign a petition to force employees to rerate the game. Because an online petition isn’t at all the prime example of being a slacktivist.
I know that example looks fairly extreme and that the reaction for an 8.8 for Twilight Princess is an outlier. But, the sad thing, is that reaction isn’t an outlier. This happens A LOT. People give into the hype for a game when it comes out, and gosh darn it if those numbers aren’t as high as they want they are going to be furious! It is this childish inclination to have a game support one’s conception of it. If somebody dares to slander a game slightly that we love, then there is a knee-jerk reaction to hate on them. How can they not see the beauty of something that we love so much?!?!And therein lies the problem. Reviewers have opinions. People reviewing games of different genres will have biases. For example, I hate racing games. I don’t find cars fascinating, and the gameplay for games like Gran Turismo and Forza never appealed to me. I prefer arcade racing games like Mario Kart and F-Zero. Now imagine me, having to review Forza, play it for 30 hours, and write my opinion on everything in it. That review would be a mess.
I already have disdain for the genre, and what is likely a great game won’t click for me. Can I dock the score of the game overall because I didn’t enjoy it much? Would I give Forza 5 a 9/10 when I would also give an RPG like Tales of Xillia 2 a 9/10? Probably not. These two genres are completely different, and one of them does not tickle my fancy. A solution to this issue is to find a reviewer who either loves everything a company does or is a fan of the genre. But therein lies a problem as well. If a reviewer already has an attachment to a game, then they are likely to overlook its problems and write the game off as better than it is.
An alternative solution is to find a reviewer who is skeptical, who goes in looking for flaws, looking to see if the game holds up. Sometimes the game ends up being really good, and it ends up being a positive surprise for them. But a lot of the time, a similar issue crops up to the optimistic reviewer. There is going to be a negative bias towards a game, and that is also problematic because it can lead to a review score that might be lower than if another reviewer took on the same task.
This problem runs deeper than inherent biases as well, as events from the past can also influence the perception of a game. For example, if a reviewer had reverence for a Mario game as a child, their review would likely cut a newer Mario game some slack. They would be blinded by their love for the franchise. Yet another bias that an individual can’t just whisk away. These biases and favourites are within us as humans, and they cannot be controlled. We may claim they can be controlled, but they can still appear subconsciously. For example, in my review of Valhalla, I was likely praising the aesthetic of the game because I love a Cyberpunk setting and anime artwork. Maybe to another person, it looks stilted and bland.
It also doesn’t help that negative scores lead to scorn and hate for a website or an individual. People usually want to avoid the negative PR or the controversy for daring to speak their opinion. For example, The IGN review of Uncharted 4 gave the game a 9/10, and it has 11000 dislikes and 5700 likes. This is for a 9/10, which is a phenomenal score. And every single one of the top comments aren’t actually about the review. They are all talking about the score and referring to the bullet points at the end of an IGN video that tries to sum up the pros and cons of a game. Did these people even watch the 5-minute review? I can’t make that judgment because I don’t know them. However, some of these comments highlight my previous issues with review scores listed earlier. They point out that Advanced Warfare got a 9.1 out of 10, while Uncharted 4 got a 9 out of 10. Two different reviewers with two different expectations gave a different score to entirely different genres.
Some of these comments on the Uncharted 4 video include:
“fire. this. lady.”
“kill yourself this game is an 11/10”
“Don’t review a game ever again” (this has 866 upvotes)
“You guys have no patience to play more down to earth/grounded games. All you want are mindless set-pieces and high octane action.” (that is just a baseless assumption)
I could go on forever but you get the idea. People call for this girl to lose her job and her life because a number wasn’t right for them. A number that doesn’t at all affect their enjoyment of the product they are consuming. A number that is completely arbitrary, and means nothing other than our own human conception of it.
It also doesn’t help that game review scores have gradually been increasing in averages over time. If a game on Metacritic gets lower than 75/100, it gets stamped with the dreaded yellow colour. It is deemed a “mixed review game”…with a 7.5/10. A good rating. It feels like big reviewers that give a game with a lot of hype anything lower than an 8 are seen as idiots who cannot do their job properly. When, in reality, an 8/10 is a great rating for a game.
The dreaded yellow numbers
The problem with review scores is thus: They try to quantify a qualitative property. They attempt to put a number to an opinion. A number that is arbitrary. Multiple people have multiple perspectives on every game they play, and that is a problem. But review sites can’t do away with review scores. People love an easy number to judge something, I do the same. It’s a problem in the gaming industry that permeates and just can’t go away. Removing a score can cause people to not check out a website anymore. Some people don’t even read the review, and only glance at the number. Can a site that pays its employees afford to remove that and potentially reduce earnings? It’s hard, but, I think it’s important not to take review scores so seriously. Judge a game by actual criticism and the words of the reviewer. If you are honestly curious about a game, read opinions and see if it matches your preconceptions. Don’t feel ashamed to like a game that others don’t. You’re different than everybody, and trying to validate yourself by lumping your opinion with another’s isn’t necessary.
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Pop Culture Trends
© 2019 AmoMama Media Limited
HomeEntertainmentStoriesDoris Day's Only Grandson Has Grown into a Handsome Man
Doris Day's Only Grandson Has Grown into a Handsome Man
20349 March 08, 2019 | by Monica Otayza
Legendary singer and actress' Doris Day is already 96-years-old, and while she's been living a quiet life since her retirement, people often wonder how she and her family are doing. Of all her family members, her only grandson has gotten the media's attention for being her closest relative.
Terry Melcher, Ryan's dad, is Doris' only son, whom she had with her first husband Al Jorden. When Terry was 9-years-old, Dori married Martin Melcher, who adopted the young boy and made him take his surname. He grew up and became a musician just like his biological dad, and married a woman named Terese. They had a son named Ryan.
Ryan grew up to be such a handsome man, but he chose not to follow in his dad and grandmother's footsteps in the entertainment industry. He is now working as a real estate agent in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. A prime area like that is a good place for a lucrative real estate business, which may be one of his reasons for choosing this place. However, this is also where his grandmother has been living since the 1970s, and this may be another reason why he chose to live there.
It's unclear just how close Ryan remains to be with his famous grandma, but the fact that they continue to reside in the same area, it might as well be because the loving grandson would like to be at an arm's length with her, especially at her old age.
Aside from this, the man loves sharing throwback photos featuring her and his late dad. Terry passed away in 2004 after suffering from cancer, and it's clear how close Ryan was to him. In fact, he continues to share loving tributes to his dad on social media from time to time.
Celebs Mar 19, 2019
Doris Day's Only Grandson Is All Grown up and Certainly Takes after Her
Doris Day was a superstar in music, cinema, and the small screen, and is considered to be an American icon. She first started her career as a pop singer, until she became a movie star and a TV headliner. She was known for her roles in the classic "Pillow Talk" and "The Man Who Knew Too Much," and for her hit song "Que Sera, Sera."
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Delaware Weighs In To Case On Independence of Federal Consumer Protection Agency
Consumer Protection | Department of Justice | Department of Justice Press Releases | Date Posted: Monday, January 23, 2017
Attorney General Matt Denn joined 16 other attorneys general in filing a motion Monday to intervene in a federal appeals case, with the goal of ensuring that the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) remains independent and able to aggressively defend the interests of American consumers free from political pressure from the White House.
The case – PHH Corporation, et al. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – is currently before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In an October 2016 ruling, a divided court found the structure of the CFPB unconstitutional, and ordered that the law be interpreted so that the director of the CFPB could be terminated by the President at will, rather than only for cause. The CFPB filed a petition for rehearing of the decision, and that petition is currently pending before the court. To this point, the federal government had vigorously defended the CFPB in the appeal.
In today’s motion to intervene in the litigation, the attorneys general argue that they have a vital interest in defending an independent and effective CFPB. They have used their authority to bring civil actions in coordination with the CFPB to protect consumers against unfair, deceptive and abusive financial practices. They argue that the court’s ruling, if permitted to stand, would undermine the power of state attorneys general to effectively protect consumers against abuses in the consumer finance industry, and significantly lessen the ability of the CFPB to withstand political pressure and act effectively and independently of the president.
“The CFPB must maintain its independence in order to fulfill its role as a watchdog over the financial industry,” Attorney General Denn said. “To make the head of the CFPB subject to removal by the president at will would be to effectively undo the protections put in place for consumers after the market crash that led to the Great Recession. The federal government should continue to defend the CFPB’s structure in court, and the court should maintain the CFPB’s ability to pursue bad actors on Wall Street without political pressure.”
Congress created the CFPB in 2010. The CFPB’s purpose it to provide a single point of accountability for enforcing federal consumer financial laws and protecting consumers in the financial marketplace. During its 2016 fiscal year, the CFPB’s supervisory actions resulted in financial institutions providing more than $58 million in redress to over 516,000 consumers, according to its report to Congress. The CFPB receives thousands of consumer complaints every week from consumers across the country.
In addition to Delaware, the motion includes Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia.
The motion can be found here.
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Related Topics: Attorney General Matt Denn, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, consumer protection, Delaware Department of Justice
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Critic, poet, and professor, Cuthbert Wright (1899?-1948) precociously published a volume of poetry, One Way of Love (1915), at sixteen. Two years later he appeared alongside E. E. Cummings, John Dos Passos, and others in the anthology Eight Harvard Poets (1917). In the 1920s, Wright turned toward criticism and teaching. He contributed book reviews to The Freeman, The Dial, and other little magazines, and in 1926 published a historical study, The Story of the Catholic Church. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, he was a regular reviewer in the New York Times and Commonweal. Wright spent a significant portion of his life in academia, both as a student and as an instructor. He earned Master of Arts degrees from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, and Laval University in Québec and taught literature at Assumption College, where he was the Head of English and Comparative Literature.
Creator: Wright, Cuthbert
Title: Typescript of "Byron as Satirist"
Description: With handwritten corrections
Item Date: Undated
ADA Caption: Typescript of "Byron as Satirist"
Collection Name: Contempo (Chapel Hill, N.C.) Collection
Stack Location: Miscellaneous: Wright, Cuthbert
An annotated typescript of Cuthbert Wright's "Byron as Satirist," undated
This typescript draft of Wright's article "Byron as Satirist" comes from the records of Contempo, a little magazine published between 1931 and 1934. The article is full of strong opinion. "The truth about Byron," he writes, "is that he was a great soul who had the bad fortune to be surrounded much of the time by swine."
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King Vidor:
An Inventory of His Collection in the Film Collection at the Harry Ransom Center
Creator: Vidor, King, 1894-1982
Title: King Vidor Collection
Dates: 1924-1941 (bulk 1941)
Extent: 9 boxes, 20 oversize boxes, 1 oversize folder (20.16 linear feet)
Abstract: The King Vidor collection consists of photographs, scripts, props, publicity materials, production reports, studio memos, and other production materials primarily from the 1941 film H. M. Pulham, Esquire.
RLIN Record ID: TXRC05-A10002
Access: Open for research
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Acquisition: Gifts, 1936, 1941
Processed by: Luke Borders, Stephen Mielke, 2005
The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center
King Wallis Vidor was born February 8, 1894, in Galveston, Texas, to Charles Shelton and Katie Lee (Wallis) Vidor. The son of a prosperous lumber merchant, Vidor saw his first movie, A Trip to the Moon, at age fifteen, and later worked a summer job as a ticket taker and relief projectionist at Galveston’s first movie theatre.
After leaving high school, Vidor made newsreel footage and short films around Galveston and Houston. While in Houston he made several films with fellow Texan Edward Sedgwick, who later gained prominence as a comedy director. In 1915, Vidor married aspiring actress Florence Arto and the two soon moved to California.
Arriving in Hollywood, Vidor found minor jobs at movie studios, eventually working as a freelance scenarist and short film director for Universal. In 1919, Vidor directed his first feature film, The Turn in the Road, backed by the small independent Brentwood Film Corporation. He made several more films for Brentwood before directing his first major studio production for Metro Pictures, Peg o' My Heart (1922). The movie's success brought Vidor steady work at Metro, which soon became known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).
Over the next thirty-five years, Vidor directed more than forty movies for MGM, Paramount Pictures, Selznick Pictures, and Warner Brothers. Notable among his films are The Big Parade (1925), which became the highest grossing silent movie ever released, and Hallelujah (1929), Vidor's first sound film and the first major Hollywood production featuring an all-black cast. He directed (uncredited) the Kansas sequences in The Wizard of Oz (1939) and was nominated for Best Director Academy Awards for The Crowd (1928), Hallelujah (1929), The Champ (1931), The Citadel (1938), and War and Peace (1956). He received an honorary Academy Award in 1979 for his "incomparable achievements as a cinematic creator and innovator." He also served as president of the Screen Directors Guild from 1936 to 1938.
After retiring from directing in 1959, Vidor taught at film schools at the University of Southern California and the University of California at Los Angeles. He died in Paso Robles, California, on November 1, 1982.
Baxter, John. King Vidor. New York: Monarch, 1976.
"King Vidor." The Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm08965421. Accessed 2 March 2005.
Vidor, King. A Tree is a Tree. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1953.
The King Vidor collection consists of photographs, scripts, props, publicity materials, production reports, studio memos, and other production materials primarily from the 1941 film H. M. Pulham, Esquire. Vidor donated the Pulham materials to The University of Texas Drama Department in conjunction with his guest lecture on movie making at the university on December 3, 1941. The materials were intended to form the nucleus of a program for the study of the production and direction of motion pictures, organized by Drama Department Chairman James Parke, Interstate Theatres President Karl Hoblitzelle, and Paramount Pictures Executive Vice President Y. Frank Freeman. Also in the collection are a typescript of Vidor's 1936 film The Texas Rangers and an accompanying photo of Vidor, and four additional photographs of Vidor dating from around 1924. The materials are arranged by volume, with H. M. Pulham, Esquire constituting almost the entire collection. The two Texas Rangers items and the four circa 1924 photographs are housed at the end of the collection.
The H. M. Pulham, Esquire materials are arranged roughly in order of their creation or use in the film-making process. Besides directing the film, Vidor also acted as producer and adapted the screenplay with his third wife, Elizabeth Hill, from the novel of the same name by John P. Marquand. Marquand, a Pulitzer Prize winner, helped Vidor and Hill work on the screenplay and is pictured with Vidor in one of the movie's research photos.
Included in the materials are the book review that inspired Vidor to make the film, Vidor's working copy of the book with numerous handwritten notations, and a transcription of a letter from Marquand to Vidor about the screenplay. Also present are several drafts of the screenplay, including retakes, the script clerk's copy, and the prop man's copy.
Photographs constitute the bulk of the materials and include costume, makeup, set, production, and film stills. The film's stars, Hedy Lamarr, Robert Young, Ruth Hussey, Charles Coburn, Van Heflin, Fay Holden, and Bonita Granville, are depicted in many of the photos. Publicity photos of actors and actresses considered for casting but not selected are also present.
Scenes and settings are documented with twenty production design sketches, and with architectural drawings and models for six of the movie's sets. Costume sketches include twenty-two original women's gowns by Robert Kalloch and thirty-three men's wardrobe sketches by Gile Steele, a six-time nominee and two-time winner of Academy Awards for costume design.
The tools of film making are represented by various props, a production board with shooting schedules, a scene slate, and a small brass periscope. Various daily reports and breakdowns for production, footage, and wardrobe track the financial and business aspects of the film.
Comment cards from members of a preview audience accompany editing notes from the preview. The original musical score by Branislaw Kaper is documented with one folder of sheet music, memos, editing notes, and photographs of the orchestral recording.
Several items located with publicity materials may actually have been used for Vidor’s lectures at The University of Texas. Other publicity materials include box office analyses, advertising plans, clippings, and promotional images.
All of the H. M. Pulham, Esquire materials date from 1941, except for a 1932 photograph from the MGM location department. A prop photograph depicting the lead character's World War I army unit is a photo of an actual army unit, identified in writing on the image as "137th Engineers USA 1918," but the date of the print is unknown.
The Texas Rangers script and accompanying photograph, signed by Vidor to the University of Texas, were presented to the university on the occasion of Vidor's August 28, 1936, visit to Dallas, Texas, for the world premiere of The Texas Rangers at the Majestic Theatre. Inspired by Walter Prescott Webb's book, Vidor wrote the screenplay, again in collaboration with his wife Elizabeth Hill, and premiered the movie in cooperation with the 1936 Texas Centennial celebration.
Four matted photographs of Vidor dating from around 1924 include handwritten captions indicating their use in magazine or newspaper stories. Their provenance is undetermined.
King Vidor correspondence can be found at The Harry Ransom Center in the Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Records, The E. P. Conkle Papers, the Margaret Cousins Papers, The Robert Downing Papers, the Alice Corbin Henderson Collection, the David O. Selznick Collection, and the Swami Vidyatmananda Collection.
Additional King Vidor archival materials are located at The University of California at Los Angeles, The University of Southern California, Brigham Young University, Columbia University, and the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution.
Brown, Phil, 1916-1973
Clyde, Dave
Coburn, Charles Douville, 1877-
Cooper, Bobbie
Erickson, Leif, 1911-
Granville, Bonita, 1923-
Heflin, Van, 1910-1971
Hill, Elizabeth
Holden, Fay, 1893-1973
Hussey, Ruth, 1917-
Kalloch, 1893-
Kapar, Branislaw, 1902-
Lamarr, Hedy, 1915-
Marquand, John P. (John Phillips), 1893-1960
Steele, Gile
H. M. Pulham, Esquire (Motion picture)
The Texas Rangers (Motion picture : 1936)
Motion picture producers and directors--United States
Motion pictures--History
Motion pictures--Production and direction
Motion pictures--United States
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Executive Vice President, Artificial Intelligence and Research Group
Harry Shum is executive vice president of Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Research group.
He is responsible for driving the company’s overall AI strategy and forward-looking research and development efforts spanning infrastructure, services, apps and agents. He oversees AI-focused product groups including Bing and Cortana. He also leads Microsoft Research, one of the world’s premier computer science research organizations, and its integration with the engineering teams across the company.
Previously, Dr. Shum served as the corporate vice president responsible for Bing search product development from 2007 to 2013. Prior to his engineering leadership role at Bing and online services, he oversaw the research activities at Microsoft Research Asia and the lab’s collaborations with universities in the Asia Pacific region, and was responsible for the Internet Services Research Center, an applied research organization dedicated to advanced technology investment in search and advertising at Microsoft.
Dr. Shum joined Microsoft Research in 1996 as a researcher based in Redmond, Washington. In 1998 he moved to Beijing as one of the founding members of Microsoft Research China (later renamed Microsoft Research Asia). There he began a nine-year tenure as a researcher, subsequently moving on to become research manager, assistant managing director and managing director of Microsoft Research Asia and a Distinguished Engineer.
Dr. Shum is an IEEE Fellow and an ACM Fellow for his contributions to computer vision and computer graphics. He received his Ph.D. in robotics from the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2017, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering of the United States.
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Thanks to gravitational wave astronomy, we are getting a better understanding of what happens when black holes collide. But the closely orbiting black holes only generate ripples in space-time strong enough to be detected from just before they smash. What happens before then? We can only extrapolate.
But a new discovery could change all that. In a galaxy just over 2.5 billion light-years away, astronomers have spotted two supermassive black holes destined for a colossal smash-up.
Don’t get too excited. They’re still pretty far apart, and astronomers estimate that it could take another 2.5 billion years for them to meet. But there’s still a lot we can learn from them, even if we won’t be around to see the fireworks.
The biggest promise of this discovery is getting us closer to discerning the gravitational wave background, a hypothetical hum of low-frequency gravitational waves from sources like supermassive black holes just about to merge.
We are yet to detect this noise – it’s outside the range of our current instruments. But now that we have an actual pair of supermassive black holes in our sights, their characteristics provide astronomers with an estimate of how many such pairs could be out there, potentially making this gravitational wave background noise.
“It’s a bit like a chaotic chorus of crickets chirping in the night,” said astrophysicist Andy Goulding of Princeton University. “You can’t discern one cricket from another, but the volume of the noise helps you estimate how many crickets are out there.”
Having a grasp on this noise could eventually help us figure out whether supermassive black holes even merge at all.
So far, our black hole collision detections have been of much less dramatic stellar-mass black holes; the most powerful gravitational wave detection to date was a collision between black holes 50 and 34 times the mass of the Sun, respectively.
Supermassive black holes are another category altogether. Each one in this newly discovered pair is estimated to be 400 million times the mass of the Sun; and each is the nucleus of a galaxy, the two coming together in a galactic collision.
What will the nucleus of that final galaxy look like? Will it be one giant supermassive black hole 800 billion times the mass of the Sun, or, as they draw closer together, will the two black holes become stuck in a perpetual orbit with each other?
“It’s a major embarrassment for astronomy that we don’t know if supermassive black holes merge,” said astrophysicist Jenny Greene of Princeton University. “For everyone in black hole physics, observationally this is a long-standing puzzle that we need to solve.”
According to theoretical modelling, when two galaxies merge, their black holes are inexorably drawn together, transferring their orbital energy to the gas and stars around them, and thus orbiting in a tighter and tighter spiral.
We know that pairs of stellar-mass black holes will eventually come together and form a single object, but with supermassive black holes, there’s a problem.
As their orbit shrinks, so too does the region of space to which they can transfer energy. By the time they’re one parsec apart (around 3.2 light-years), theoretically this region of space is no longer large enough to support further orbital decay, so they remain in a stable binary orbit – potentially for billions of years. This is called the final parsec problem.
If we could see a binary galactic nucleus, we could resolve that problem, but at a distance of one parsec, colliding black holes would be way too close to each other to tell apart (although one candidate has been spotted)… and, well, you know how hard it is to see a black hole at all.
This newly discovered pair is still around 430 parsecs (1,400 light-years) apart, so they won’t directly solve the final parsec problem – but they are still useful as they have given researchers a better estimate of how long it takes before such a collision would start producing detectable gravitational waves.
We’re not there yet. But by analysing this newly discovered black hole pair in the context of a hypothetical gravitational wave background, the team was able to arrive at an estimate of around 112 merging supermassive black holes within detection distance of Earth.
That’s a good-enough quantity close to us that we might have the first gravitational wave background detection in a few years.
If the gravitational wave background is full of noise from supermassive black hole pairs, then somehow, they do indeed manage to close that final parsec between them.
And, if we don’t detect that noise, maybe that parsec really does remain insurmountable.
The research has been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
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Home Hot Stories Bishop Oyedepo church under tension as Boko Haram makes another fearful demand...
Bishop Oyedepo church under tension as Boko Haram makes another fearful demand after doing this to members of his church
It was reported that gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram kidnapped a member of the National Youth Service Corp, (NYSC), Ibrahim Amuta and other three members of the church on their way to Chibok to distribute relief items to internally displaced persons, (IDP).
Amuta’s housemate, identified to be, Success Ezeanya, whose tweets about the abduction went viral on Saturday, on Monday told the PUNCH News that a member of the church revealed that the Boko Haram was demanding, N200 Million before they grant his release, while another source states from Maiduguri said Boko Haram demanded N100 Million.
Ezeanya in his statement said the family of Amuta is in constant communication with the church as to how he would be released.
Ezeanya stated, “I haven’t heard anything from AB’s family members. I think they are communicating directly with the church, so I have not heard anything directly from them. I know he is the only son; I don’t know if he is the only child. According to one of the church members, Boko Haram asked for a ransom of N200m.”
The PUNCH learnt that Amuta served as a vigilante. Amuta’s colleague, Ezeanya told The PUNCH that the abducted NYSC member had gained experience combating crime as a member of a vigilante group in Jos, Plateau State.
He had tweeted, “Abraham Amuta is a corps member serving in Maiduguri. He was abducted by Boko Haram two weeks ago. He went for evangelism with a pastor from his church – Living Faith. He is an only son. Let’s not forget him in our prayers.
“He is a Batch B, stream 1 corps member serving in Maiduguri, Borno State. It’s been over two weeks now since he went missing in Maiduguri. Some people claiming to be Boko Haram have called and claimed to have abducted him. Please retweet until the Federal Government sees this.”
Speaking with one of our correspondents on Monday, Ezeanya described the abducted NYSC member as audacious.
He said, “We were just lodge-mates. I think he is 27 or 28 years old. He has a barber’s in the lodge where we go to cut our hair. I was in Batch A but I’ve passed out, although I’m still in Borno still searching for a job as a Mass Communication graduate.
“AB, however, is in Batch B. I would always interact with him whenever I would go to cut my hair at his place. AB is a very strong guy; the guy has guts. The kind of things he says, he’s a different kind of person.
“He would always talk about his experience as a security agent in Jos (Plateau State) and how he is ready to go to Sambisa Forest whenever the opportunity comes because he has got security experience. He said during the crises in Jos, a vigilante group was set up there and he was part of the group. He is a tough guy.”
Image result for winners chapel
Ezeanya stated that he had known Amuta since August 2018, adding that other housemates shared his sentiment about the abducted corps member’s courage. He condemned the comments on social media ridiculing Amuta for his decision to evangelise and distribute materials in Chibok.
“That shouldn’t be the discussion now. The most important thing is how to have him released, not how he went there. When he comes back, we can begin to query him, saying, ‘Why did you go there?’ But the most important thing we should concern ourselves with now is getting him out.
“Nigerians always find a way of expressing themselves to the fullest, no matter the circumstance. Sometimes, you have to use diplomacy to address things like that. I am surprised that up till now, I have not heard any statement from the Nigeria Police, the Army or the Federal Government.”
When contacted on the telephone, the Pastor of Living Faith Ministries in Borno State, Victor Samaila, declined to speak on the incident.
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Dpriest007 May 11, 2019, 3:32 am at 3:32 am
Nothing will happen
oprol evorter May 16, 2019, 11:39 am at 11:39 am
I really enjoy reading through on this website , it contains good posts. “The longing to produce great inspirations didn’t produce anything but more longing.” by Sophie Kerr.
Andrew Samson July 3, 2019, 7:28 am at 7:28 am
May God deliver him from the calamity of bokoharam.
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The Role Of Neural Connections In Physical Behaviors Associated With Dance
Published by Admin on November 5, 2017 November 5, 2017
By Ritika Miryala
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relevance of neural circuits in regulating physical behaviors. The human brain is an intricate network that constantly forms new neural connections which encode various physical behaviors. The more frequently a physical behavior is performed, the stronger its corresponding neural connection becomes. As a result, the operational definition of neural connection was applied to hypothesize that individuals with more experience in a physical activity have stronger neural connections for the corresponding physical behaviors. To investigate this hypothesis, an experiment was designed at Kuchipudi Dance Academy (KDA), a dance school in Germantown, Maryland, where a group of eight dancers were required to learn and perform a newly choreographed dance within 20 minutes. The dance they learned embodied both conventional and unconventional dance movements, which allowed the study of the strength of both pre-existing and newly formed neural connections. The percent accuracy of the steps for each dancer was calculated using video recordings of their final performances, which determined how easily the dancer encoded and performed the physical behaviors and related it to the strength of the behaviors’ neural connections. The results of this investigation reinforce the psychological concept that repetition of a behavior strengthens corresponding neural connections.
The human brain is composed of thousands of neurons that form intricate neural connections, which define the very structure and function of the brain and regulate numerous physical behaviors. A neural connection is generated when the body is exposed to a stimulus and reaches the stimulus threshold (Stegemöller, E., L.). At that point, an electrical message is transmitted from sensory neurons to motor neurons to elicit the physical response.
Each neuron is composed of three distinct parts: the cell body, the dendrite and the axon. The dendrite receives the electrical message via neurotransmitters. If a threshold is reached, an action potential/ electrical impulse is transmitted down the axon, which forms the body of the neuron. Once the electrical message reaches the axon terminal, it is converted into a chemical message (in the form of neurotransmitters) that travels across the synaptic gap to reach the dendrite of the adjacent neuron (“Brain Basics”). Through this process, neurons transmit electrical messages from sensory neurons to motor neurons, which elicit the intended physical behavioral response (Boyd, Jeffrey H.). Below is a diagram of a neuron for reference.
Figure 1: Diagram of a Neuron
If a stimulus is repeatedly triggered, the neural connections that transmit its electrical impulse grow stronger as the synaptic gap between adjacent neurons closes. This allows the response behavior to be performed quickly and efficiently. In the same sense, if a response behavior is repeatedly performed, the neural connections strengthen as neurons encode for the learning of the behavior (Stollings, N.). As a result, experience and practice in physical activities can enhance the strength of corresponding neural connections and improve one’s ability to perform the associated physical behaviors efficiently. This process is known as long term potentiation as the brain encodes the behaviors into long term memory through its neural circuits.
This concept was investigated in conjunction with the physical movements involved in dance. Dance like any other physical activity encompasses complex steps and behaviors that can be mastered through years of experience. Through their years, dancers form numerous neural connections that encode for the physical steps involved in dance (Hanna, J. L.). This is all possible due to neuroplasticity, the brain’s exceptional ability to build new neural connections and develop intricate neural circuits (Sabaawi, M.). Therefore, individuals with many years of experience in dance tend to have hardwired brains for dance and stable neural circuits, enabling them to easily execute the steps they commonly perform in dance. However, they may face difficulty executing new steps as they must generate new neural connections for new behaviors, and possibly override strong pre-existing neural connections if the behaviors overlap. In essence, this article investigates these concepts through an experiment designed to assess the strength of neural connections in the physical behaviors involved in the dance of Kuchipudi.
An experiment was organized at Kuchipudi Dance Academy, where the effect of neuroplasticity and neural connections on the physical behavior of dancers was studied. The research encompasses a new approach to studying the human mind and neural functions through the arts. Dr. Monica Lopez- Gonzalez, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, takes on a similar approach of study in her company La Petite Noiseuse, where she investigates the mental processes, including the interaction between the subconscious and conscious mind, in staged performances. Her interview has inspired me to take an observational approach into investigating the involvement of neural connections on the physical movements part of classical Indian dance (M. Lopez- Gonzalez, personal communication, July 5, 2017). Such an approach allows me to discover the potential relationship between the dancers’ behaviors and corresponding neural connections when they are in a natural state, eliminating the effect a laboratory or fMRI’s could have on the dancers’ behaviors.
In this observational investigation, a 4 minute 14 second classical Indian dance was choreographed, and it embodied both conventional and unconventional Kuchipudi movements. The dance itself was technique oriented and did not include expressive portions, which allowed physical behavior to be isolated from emotional behavior in order to be studied exclusively. The tillana music for this dance was edited to include an amplified drum beat, thus creating a defined auditory stimulus.
The dance itself included 52 conventional steps and 42 unconventional steps, with a total of 94 steps. Conventional steps were defined as physical movements that existed in at least 10 Kuchipudi dances for which the dancers were hypothesized to have strong neural connections. The dancers were frequently exposed to these conventional steps, and therefore it was believed that the stimuli for these physical movements were frequently triggered; this indicates that the electrical signals for those stimuli were repeatedly generated and transmitted across the synaptic junctions of interconnected neurons. Over time, the multiple action potentials would be expected to reduce the synaptic gap between two neurons, allowing the stimulus message to be sent quickly and the response behavior (conventional step) to be executed within a reduced time frame, eventually becoming automatic. In contrast, unconventional steps were defined as relatively new dance movements which were either performed in only 1-3 Kuchipudi dances or were executed differently than normal. For these steps, it was hypothesized that dancers would have weaker neural connections if not none as the stimuli for these movements are rarely triggered; as a result, the neural connections for the behaviors are relatively very weak if not nonexistent due to the low frequency of action potential generation and the greater gap between synaptic junctions. This means that these unconventional behaviors must be encoded through traditional memory processing, which involves retrieving stimuli, and then consolidating and encoding it.
As for the experiment itself, there were a total of eight volunteers with varying levels of experience in dance, ranging from 1-12 years (specified in Figure 2 below). The experiment was conducted over the course of 4 days from July 19 to July 22 with two volunteers tested each day. Prior to the experiment, it was hypothesized that individuals with more experience will perform the newly choreographed dance more accurately because they have the strongest pre existing neural connections for the conventional steps and have had more experience forming new neural connections for unconventional steps as they have learned new dances before.
Figure 2: Volunteers who Participated in Experiment
For the experiment, I created a video of myself performing the dance I choreographed with the help of my dance teacher. The video was stored on a phone, and for each trial, the dancer was taken to the back room of the KDA dance studio. Then, the dancer was given the video of the dance on the phone and was told to learn as much of the dance as they possibly could in the 20 minute timeframe. The dancer was also instructed to learn the dance as they would any other dance by watching the video (dancers in KDA have learned dances by watching videos before). While the dancers were learning the dance, they were given time checks at 15 min., 10 min., and 5 min., and the number of times the dancer replayed the video were measured and recorded. After the 20 minutes, the video was taken away, and the dancer was required to perform as much of the dance as they remembered with just the audio music; they were given two trials to perform the dance with just the music. During this process, the dancer encoded what she learned during the 20 minutes into short term memory. After the two performances, the dancer was asked several questions listed below to distract them and allow their brains to consolidate their memory of the dance from their short term into their long term memory. These were the questions:
How frequently do you practice dance?
What other activities are you involved in?
What school do you attend?
Have you traveled to another country before?
After the dancer was asked these questions, they were required to perform the dance for the third and final time without the video, using just the audio music. This time, the performance of the dancer was recorded on a different phone for comparative analysis. After all eight dancers participated in the experiment, their individual dance performances were rewatched. Then, the number of conventional steps and unconventional steps performed accurately by each dancer were counted and recorded, and both the percentage of accuracy (relative to how much of the dance the dancer performed) and total number of steps performed accurately were used to analyze the data.
The video recordings of each dancer’s performance were scrutinized to determine the number of conventional steps, unconventional steps and total (conventional + unconventional) steps they performed accurately. Accurately was defined as performing the step on the correct beat, correct side and correct movement. Then conclusions regarding their neural connections were drawn from the accuracy of their behaviors.
To determine the percent accuracy of the steps, the number of conventional steps they did accurately was divided by the total number of conventional steps in the part of the dance they got to. For example, Dancer A (who learned 55 seconds of the dance in 20 minutes) performed a total of 5 conventional steps correctly out of the 6 that existed in the 55 second timeframe; so her percent accuracy would be 56=83.3% This same process was repeated to determine the percent accuracy for unconventional and total steps for all of the dancers as summarized in Figure 3 below.
Figure 3: Quantitative Data Table summarizing all the data collected during data analysis for each dancer
Through analysis of the data, two relationships were discovered and graphed. The first relationship between the experience of the dancer vs. how accurately they performed is summarized in Figure 4.1 and Figure 4.2 below. In figure 4.1, the eight dancers were grouped into 1 of 4 groups based on their experience (in number of years) in dance. Then, the percent accuracy for the steps for each group was calculated using the following equation:
For example, for the group that had 1-3 years of experience, the equation to determine percent accuracy for conventional steps was:
This same process was used to determine percent accuracy for all of the four groups in each of the three categories (conventional, unconventional, total). The experience (x values) and percent accuracy (y values) were then used to determine three correlation coefficient (r) values, one for each of the categories. Then, the data was graphically represented with the experience in years as the independent variable and percent accuracy as the dependent variable. A separate line graph was created for conventional, unconventional and total steps to depict all 3 relationships.
Figure 4.1: Statistical Analysis of Experience in Dance vs. Accuracy of Physical Movements
Figure 4.2: Graphical Representation of the Data Presented in Figure 4.1
From this data, a clear relationship between experience in dance and the accurate execution of corresponding physical behavior cannot be determined. However, certain observations can be made. For instance, dancers with more experience in dance tended to perform more number of steps accurately; however, as indicated by the low r- values, there was not a strong correlation between the experience they had in years and the percent accuracy (number of steps performed accurately relative to how much of the dance they learned). Another notable observation is that the dancers with more experience in dance executed conventional steps far more accurately than non conventional steps. In other words, there was a great percent difference between the accuracy of conventional and unconventional steps. For example, there was a 37.3% difference (62.9%-25.6%=37.3%) between the percent accuracy of conventional dance steps and unconventional dance steps for dancers in the 7-9 years of experience group. This could possibly be because dancers with more experience have a hardwired brain with stronger pre-existing neural connections for conventional dance steps, thus making the execution of them fairly easy. Dancers with less experience, in contrast, had a lower percent difference because the strength of their neural connections for conventional steps was fairly weak in comparison to unconventional steps. For example, there was a 6.5% difference (24.1%-17.6%=6.5%) between the percent accuracy of conventional dance steps and unconventional dance steps for dancers in the 1-3 years of experience group. However, as the dancers gain more and more experience, they will develop stronger neural connections due to the plasticity of the human brain, which is constantly vulnerable to change. There seems to be a general increase in percent accuracy as experience increases (with the exception of the dancer in the 10+ year group), however a definite conclusion cannot be established without additional research or more trials.
Nevertheless, a new relationship was discovered through the analysis of the data. Although experience in dance and accuracy of corresponding movements were being measured according to the initial hypothesis, during the study a negative correlation was found between the amount of the dance learned (in minutes) and percent. As a result, the same video recordings were further analyzed and additional data was collected as shown in Figure 5.1 and 5.2 below. This time, the dancers were organized into groups based on the number of minutes of the dance that they learned, and the percent accuracy of the steps for each group was calculated using the following equation:
For example, for the group of dancers who learned 55 seconds of the dance, the equation to determine percent accuracy for conventional steps was:
This same process was used to determine percent accuracy for all of the five groups in each of the three categories (conventional, unconventional, total). The time (x values) and percent accuracy (y values) were then used to determine three correlation coefficient (r) values, one for each of the categories. Then, the data was graphically represented with the number of minutes of dance learned as the independent variable and percent accuracy as the dependent variable. A separate line graph was created for conventional, unconventional and total steps to depict all 3 relationships.
Figure 5.1: Statistical Data Analysis of Minutes of Dance Learned vs. Accuracy of their Physical Movements
As seen in the data above, there is a negative correlation between the number of minutes of the dance learned and the percent accuracy of the movements. And, upon performing statistical analysis, it was discovered that the strongest negative correlation (r = -0.907) existed between number of minutes of the dance learned and percent accuracy of conventional steps. This is possibly because dancers who learned less minutes of the dance repeated the portions they learned many times; they replayed the video of the dance more often as indicated in Figure 3. Repeated exposure to stimuli and repetition of the response behavior strengthens neural connections by reducing the gap between the synapses, allowing electric impulses to be transmitted to be more efficiently and quickly (as elaborated previously). As a result, dancers who learned less of the dance, but repeated the portions they learned over the 20 minute timeframe frequently, more accurately encoded and executed the dance movements, both conventional and unconventional. Dancers who tried learning all of the dance, in contrast, experienced more difficulty encoding, storing and retrieving their memory of the correct dance steps to execute the behavior due to their limited exposure to the stimuli; these dancers replayed the video of the dance less often as indicated in Figure 3. And once again, in reference to Figure 3, it must be noted that there were a few dancers (D and F) who despite learning more minutes of the dance and having a lower percent accuracy, performed more number of actual steps correctly. In this sense, it is difficult to establish anything beyond a correlation without further research that possibly restricts the amount of the dance each dancer learns to truly evaluate the relationship between number of minutes of the dance learned and percent accuracy for the movements.
To summarize, through this investigation, it was observed that dancers who learned less minutes of the dance had a higher percent accuracy for the steps, regardless of their experience. This reinforces the psychological concept that repetition of a behavior strengthens corresponding neural connections, possibly automating the behavior. Furthermore, it was observed that dancers with more experience had a large percent difference between the accuracy of their conventional steps versus unconventional steps, suggesting that the stimuli and response behaviors which individuals are frequently exposed develop stronger neural connections compared to relatively newer stimuli and response behaviors.
Overall this study embodied a new means of investigation, which involves observing human behavior and making connections with the human mind. There are aspects of human nature which cannot be studied through extensive fMRI’s or CAT scans, which require natural observation and investigation. Therefore, in spite of being a relatively new field, the interdisciplinary study of the human mind through the arts is one with great scope and potential.
My research itself, however, is not conclusive. There is much more to be done and many new areas to explore. For instance, additional trials with new groups of dancers and possibly different genres of dance could be conducted to continue the investigation of the different relations between the human brain and behavior. Additional potential areas of research include studying the effect of different conditioning methods or different musical stimuli on the development of strong neural connections for corresponding physical behavior. Research involving the human mind is an endless investigation with many areas of study and many questions to be answered.
I would sincerely like to thank Dr. Joseph Swope, my psychology professor at Northwest High School and Montgomery College, who has mentored my research and greatly supported my studies of the human mind. I would also like to thank Dr. Suzanne Borenzweig, who has provided me with all of the necessary resources to complete my research. Additionally, I thank Smt. Lakshmi Babu, my dance teacher and head director of KDA, as well as her wonderful students who have helped me carry out my experiment at KDA. Finally, my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Monica Lopez- Gonzalez, a psychology professor at Johns Hopkins University and head of the company La Petite Noiseuse Productions, whose interview has greatly inspired my future research and academic interests in dually pursuing the science and arts disciplines.
Begley, S. (2007, Jan 19). How thinking can change the brain; Dalai lama helps scientists show the power of the mind to sculpt our gray matter. Wall Street Journal Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/399007605?accountid=1151
Boyd, Jeffrey H, MD,M.P.H., M.Div. (2009). Train your mind, change your brain: How a new science reveals our extraordinary potential to transform ourselves. by Sharon Begley. 283 pp. balantine books, new york, 2008. $14.95. Journal of Religion and Health, 48(2), 259-262. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10943-008-9216-8
Stegemöller, E., L. (2014). Exploring a neuroplasticity model of music therapy. Journal of Music Therapy, 51(3), 211-27. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1627711339?accountid=1151
Stollings, N. (2017, April 08). 3 Ways Dancing Benefits Your Brain. Retrieved from http://iheartintelligence.com/2017/01/10/dancing-benefits-your-brain/
Hanna, J. L. (2016). FIT TO LEARN: How dancing ignites brain cells and elevates learning. Principal Leadership, 16(5), 12-14. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1792353321?accountid=1151
“Brain Basics: The Life and Death of a Neuron.” National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Life-and-Death-Neuron.
Vance, David E, PhD., M.G.S., Roberson, Anthony J, PhD., P.M.H.N.P.-B.C., McGuinness, Teena M, PhD, C.R.N.P., F.A.A.N., & Fazeli, P. L., B.A. (2010). How neuroplasticity and cognitive reserve protect cognitive functioning. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing & Mental Health Services, 48(4), 23-30. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/89324171?accountid=1151
Sabaawi, M. (2004). The mind and the brain: Neuroplasticity and the power of mental force. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 13(1), 125-127. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:JCFS.0000010509.02098.4d
Graham Templeton on October 12, 2015 at 7:30 am Comment. “Artificial Neural Networks Are Changing the World. What Are They?” ExtremeTech, Nov. 2015, www.extremetech.com/extreme/215170-artificial-neural-networks-are-changing-the-world-what-are-they
Activity. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://esmartkids.epcor.ca/websites/sse_ca/body/nervous.html
L. (n.d.). Silhouettes indian dancers. Retrieved from https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-illustration-silhouettes-indian-dancers-vector-set-isolated-image47616034#
Categories: 2017 IssueBiologyFeaturedSTEMUncategorizedWinter 2017 Issue
Tags: anatomybiologydancenervous system
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Nuclear Power Plants Threaten Drinking Water for Over 3.2 Million New Jerseyans
New Jersey has the 5th Largest Population in the Country with Water Supplies at Risk
TRENTON – The drinking water for 3,286,373 people in New Jersey could be at risk of radioactive contamination from a leak or accident at a local nuclear power plant, says a new study released today by the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group Law & Policy Center and the Environment New Jersey Research and Policy Center.
“The danger of nuclear power is too close to home. Here in New Jersey, the drinking water for over 3.2 million people is too close to an active nuclear power plant,” said Jen Kim, NJPIRG Advocate. “An accident like the one in Fukushima, Japan or a leak could spew cancer-causing radioactive waste into our drinking water.”
The nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, Japan last year drew a spotlight on the many risks associated with nuclear power. After the disaster, airborne radiation left areas around the plant uninhabitable, and even contaminated drinking water sources near Tokyo, 130 miles from the plant.
According to the new report, “Too Close to Home: Nuclear Power and the Threat to Drinking Water,” the drinking water for 3,286,373 people in New Jersey is within 50 miles of an active nuclear power plant – the distance the Nuclear Regulatory Commission uses to measure risk to food and water supplies. Also, the 8 million residents of New York City receive their drinking water from a source within 50 miles of a nuclear plant.
“Ionizing radiation is one of the most well established causes of cancer, particularly among children,” said Daniel Wartenberg, Ph.D, Director of the Division of Environmental Epidemiology at UMDNJ. “To protect the public health, we must reduce and eliminate all exposures to ionizing radiation, including any attributable to nuclear power plants.”
Radiation from a disaster like the one in Fukushima can contaminate drinking water and food supplies, as well as harm our health. But disaster or no disaster, a common leak at a nuclear power plant can also threaten the drinking water for millions of people. As our nuclear facilities get older, leaks are more common. In fact, 75 percent of U.S. nuclear plants have leaked tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen that can cause cancer and genetic defects.
New Jersey’s nuclear plants are no strangers to leaks. In 2002 radiation was discovered on the shoes of workers at the Salem plant in South Jersey that lead to the discovery of a leak into the nearby groundwater that had been ongoing for at least five years before it was discovered. The Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, located in Lacey Township, has leaked tritium over 20 times.
"Oyster Creek poses a daily threat to our environment and health," said Janet Tauro, chair of the board of directors for the New Jersey Environmental Federation and founding member of GRAMMES (Grandmothers, Mothers, and More for Energy Safety). “Tritium leaks that soared hundreds of times above government standards contaminated two New Jersey aquifers. It is long overdue for this plant to shut down."
Local bodies of water also play a critical role in cooling nuclear reactors and are at risk of contamination. In the case of the Fukushima meltdown, large quantities of seawater were pumped into the plant to cool it, and contaminated seawater then leaked and was dumped back into the ocean, carrying radioactivity from the plant with it. The Barnegat Bay and Delaware River provides cooling water for the Oyster Creek and Salem nuclear plants in New Jersey and could be at risk.
“With nuclear power, there’s too much at risk and the dangers are too close to home. New Jerseyans shouldn’t have to worry about getting cancer from drinking a glass of water,” said Kim.
The report recommends that the United States moves to a future without nuclear power by retiring existing plants, abandoning plans for new plants, and expanding energy efficiency and the production clean, renewable energy such as wind and solar power.
In order to reduce the risks nuclear power poses to water supplies immediately, the report recommends completing a thorough safety review of U.S. nuclear power plants, requiring plant operators to implement recommended changes immediately and requiring nuclear plant operators to implement regular groundwater tests in order to catch tritium leaks, among other actions.
“Our drinking water is too important to risk radiation contamination,” said Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Chairwoman Annette Quijano (D-Union). “New Jersey needs to be proactive in its handling of nuclear plant safety, as any lapse in oversight could affect literally millions of people.”
“There are far cleaner, cheaper, and less-risky ways to get our energy,” concluded Matt Elliott Environment New Jersey Clean Energy Advocate. “New Jersey and the United States should move away from nuclear power immediately and invest in safer alternatives such as efficiency and wind and solar power.”
To see the full report and a map illustrating the risks of nuclear power go to www.njpirg.org/reports/njf/too-close-home.
The New Jersey Public Interest Research Group is a nonprofit, nonpartisan consumer advocacy group. Follow us online facebook.com/njpirg and twitter.com/njpirg
Environment New Jersey is a state-wide citizen-based environmental group working for clean air, clean water, and open spaces. www.environmentnewjersey.org
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MNE Train #0884 to HOBOKEN
View the Morris & Essex Line schedule
20:32 - HACKETTSTOWN
20:43 - MOUNT OLIVE
20:48 - NETCONG
20:52 - LAKE HOPATCONG
20:56 - MOUNT ARLINGTON
21:04 - DOVER
21:10 - DENVILLE
21:13 - MOUNT TABOR
21:19 - MORRIS PLAINS
21:23 - MORRISTOWN
21:27 - CONVENT
21:31 - MADISON
21:35 - CHATHAM
21:41 - SUMMIT
21:47 - MILLBURN
21:53 - SOUTH ORANGE
21:57 - ORANGE
22:00 - BRICK CHURCH
22:06 - NEWARK BROAD ST
May 28th, 2019 at 11:13pm
Update: M&E train #0884 the 9:23pm from Morristown is up to 90 min. late due to an earlier fallen tree on the tracks.
Update:M&E train #0884 the 8:56pm from Mount Arlington is up to 60 min. delay due to an earlier fallen tree on the tracks ahead.
May 28th, 2019 at 9:37pm
Update:M&E train #0884 the 8:52pm from Lake Hopatcong is subject to a 90 min. delay due to a fallen tree on the track ahead. An update will follow.
M&E train #0884 the 8:52pm from Lake Hopatcong is subject to a 45 min. delay due to a fallen tree on the track ahead. An update will follow.
M&E train #0884 the 8:52pm from Lake Hopatcong is up to 15 min. late due to a fallen tree on the track ahead. An update will follow.
April 29th, 2019 at 9:13pm
Port Jervis Line
Update:M&E train #0884, the 8:43pm from Mt. Olive, is up to 40 min. late due to a signal problem near Hackettstown.
Update:M&E train #0884, the 8:32pm from Hackettstown, is cancelled Friday, 4/26 due to manpower shortage. Customers to passenger extra service train to Dover. Transfer at Dover to train #6676, the 9:39pm to Summit then transfer to train #0438, from Summit for service to Hoboken.
M&E train #0884, the 8:32pm from Hackettstown, is cancelled Friday, 4/26 due to manpower shortage. Customers to passenger extra service train to Dover then transfer to train #6676, the 9:39pm from Dover. Update to follow.
April 22nd, 2019 at 9:18pm
M&E train #0884, the 9:04pm from Dover, is up to 15 min. late due to equipment availability.
March 11th, 2019 at 9:17pm
M&E train #0884 the 9:04pm from Dover is up to 15 min. late due to congestion from train #1085 ahead.
March 1st, 2019 at 9:26pm
M&E Line train #0884 the 9:19pm from Morris Plains is up to 10 min. late due to earlier equipment availability.
January 31st, 2019 at 9:25pm
M&E train #0884, the 9:04pm from Dover, is up to 25 min. late due to mechanical problems.
December 31st, 2018 at 5:53pm
M&E train #0884 the 8:32pm from Hackettstown, is cancelled Monday, 12/31 due to manpower shortage. Bus service will be provided from Hackettstown to Dover and transfer to train #6676 the 9:39pm from Dover to PSNY and train #0438 the 10:39pm from Broad Street to Hoboken will be held for connection with train #6676 at Broad St.
December 26th, 2018 at 4:48pm
M&E train #0884 the 8:32pm from Hackettstown, is cancelled Wednesday, 12/26 due to equipment availability. Bus service will be provided from Hackettstown to Dover and transfer to train #6676 the 9:39pm from Dover to PSNY and train #0438 the 10:39pm from Broad Street to Hoboken will be held for connection with train #6676 at Broad St.
M&E train #0884, the 8:32pm from Hackettstown, is cancelled Monday, 12/24 due to manpower shortage. Customers to substitute bus service to Dover, and train #6676, the 9:39pm from Dover and transfer at Newark broad St. for service to Hoboken.
November 2nd, 2018 at 9:40pm
M&E Line train #0884 the 8:32pm from Hackettstown is cancelled due to equipment availability. Customers to passenger extra service train from Hackettstown.
M&E Line train #0884 the 8:32pm from Hackettstown will be delayed due to equipment issues. An update to follow.
October 22nd, 2018 at 9:37pm
M&E train #0884 the 9:19pm from Morris Plains is up to 15 min. late due to fire department activity near Dover.
August 2nd, 2018 at 9:27pm
M&E train #0884, the 9:19pm from Morris Plains is delayed due to police activity. An update will follow.
July 24th, 2018 at 9:38pm
Update: M&E train #0884 the 9:04pm from Dover is up to 35 min. late due to earlier mechanical problems.
M&E train #0884 the 9:04pm from Dover is delayed due to mechanical problems. An update will follow.
July 9th, 2018 at 7:40pm
M&E train #0884 the 8:32pm from Hackettstown will not operate. Customers may use substitute bus service and train #6676 the 9:32pm from Dover.
July 2nd, 2018 at 9:20pm
M&E train #0884 the 9:04pm from Dover is up to 20 min. late due to an equipment issue.
M&E train #0884 the 9:10pm from Denville is up to 20 min. late due to congestion from an earlier downed tree in overhead wires.
Maybe, instead of trying to shut down my website you could focus on problems with your service, #NJTRANSIT
A photo posted by Joe Commuter (@njtranshit) on Dec 10, 2015 at 5:29am PST
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Officials For The World Cup Final Announced
London: Sri Lanka's Kumar Dharmasena and South Africa's Marais Erasmus will be the two on-field umpires for the
World Cup final, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said in a statement on Friday.
Following the conclusion of the two semi-finals, announcing the officials for the final to be played between New Zealand and England at Lord's on Sunday, the ICC said it will have Australian Rod Tucker in the third umpire's chair and Pakistan's Aleem Dar as the fourth official.
Ranjan Madugalle of Sri Lanka will be the match referee.
All the officials appointed for the final were also selected for either of one of the semi-finals.
Today Cricket Match
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A Summer at Sweetbriar
Home SJC Long Island A New Place To Perch
A New Place To Perch
Introducing SJC Long Island's newest coffee and sandwich shop
by Melissa Kuehnle August 26, 2016
Brandon Walsh had the Peach Pit. Chandler Bing had Central Perk. Aria Montgomery has The Brew, and now you will have your own spot for coffee and conversation with the opening of The Perch.
SJC Long Island is set to open The Perch on Monday, August 29, at 8 a.m. for all students, staff and faculty. Located on the third floor of O’Connor Hall, The Perch will serve Starbucks® beverages and an array of baked goods, hot and cold sandwiches, salads, soup, single-serve drinks and grab-and-go options.
“The Perch will be a Starbucks® café with the fresh food options of SAGE Dining,” said Joseph Lamia, food service director for SAGE.
While on campus, you can stop in at The Perch Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and for Weekend College on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
“We are excited that The Perch will open on the first day of the fall semester,” said Dr. Rose Mary Howell, vice president for student life at SJC Long Island. “This is a great addition to our campus community.”
Here are some photos of The Perch:
A New Place To Perch was last modified: August 31st, 2016 by David Henne
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Melissa Kuehnle
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A. Samantha Dreyer, Psy.D. August 29, 2016 at 4:07 pm
Where on campus is the Perch located?
David Henne August 29, 2016 at 4:11 pm
Good question! The Perch is located on the third floor of O’Connor Hall. I’ll add that to the article.
RM Oliviero September 18, 2016 at 3:16 am
The new café is beautiful, however the service leaves much to be desired. The Supervisor there is as rude as can be! I shall not be returning there until she is gone which should be soon considering we are into the 3rd week of school and many complaints have been made regarding her already.
David Henne September 19, 2016 at 10:18 am
We appreciate the feedback, we’re going to pass this on to cafe management.
Gino September 19, 2016 at 3:10 pm
I am so glad that Sjc finally opened the Perch. I no longer have to rush to Starbucks across the street from campus before class. I am now able to enjoy my coffee before and during class. The female manager is so sweet and has been listening to our desires as students and consumers since the first day of classes. Remember, “Rome was not built In a day” and neither was the Perch. It takes time for any “small business” to become great. I would like to thank the staff and management who are working to cater to our needs. Keep up the great work.
Rose Marie Oliviero October 16, 2016 at 4:07 am
There is nothing about The Perch that remotely resembles what Starbucks coffee is supposed to be. It’s very sad. The poor woman there is almost always by herself and has obviously never been trained on how to make a proper latte. The Manager/Supervisor/Whatever she is is rude as can be, despite complaints and promises that changes will be made nothing has changed. I drive across the street before I am told that ” I can’t make decaf iced coffee” ever again, or the girl next to me is told that she can’t have her drink with almond milk “because it doesn’t taste good”. Now we can’t make our own decisions about what we like?
David Henne October 17, 2016 at 9:32 am
Hi Rose Marie, thanks for your comment — I’ll pass this along to the management at The Perch.
Faculty 📰: SJC Brooklyn's Dr. Sarah Birch presented "The Reliability and Validity of Forced Choice Preference Asses… https://t.co/BlI4NetRD5
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Turkey Undeterred By US Sanctions Threat
16/07/2019 by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR
All the evidence suggests that Erdogan has made a strategic decision that Turkey’s future lies in Eurasian integration and the current sparring is a shadow play. On the eve of his arrival in Beijing, Erdogan wrote: “… The world seeks a new, multipolar balance today. The need for a new international order, which will serve the interests of all humanity, is crystal clear”.
16/07/2019 by Matthew Ehret
The elite attempting to control the world under an “end of history” neo-liberal doctrine have created a mountain of unresolvable paradoxes for themselves in Ukraine since unleashing the anti-Russian Euromaidan color revolution in late 2013 that unseated a pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych government, and replaced it with a Nazi-infested technocratic regime which has […]
Trump’s Spiteful Tweet Against “The Squad” Made A Solid Point
15/07/2019 by Andrew KORYBKO / 2 comments
Trump tweeted a very harsh message on Sunday to the new progressive Democrat congresswomen who have been shaking up Capital Hill since their election last year. His words will certainly be called “misogynistic”, “racist”, and/or “xenophobic”, but he still made a solid point.
The Resigning Ambassador: Sir Kim Darroch On Donald Trump
15/07/2019 by Binoy KAMPMARK / 1 comment
Would Britain’s representative in Washington have the support of May’s successor? Johnson’s opponent, Jeremy Hunt, failed to receive a clear answer after questioning Johnson on whether he would stick with the ambassador should he become prime minister.
The Muslim Brotherhood As Assassins
13/07/2019 by Thierry MEYSSAN / 5 comments
We are continuing the publication of Thierry Meyssan’s new book, «Before Our Very Eyes, Fake Wars and Big Lies : From 9/11 to Donald Trump». In this episode, he describes the creation of an Egyptian secret society, the Muslim Brotherhood, and then its re-creation after the Second World War by the British secret services. Finally, the use of the group by MI6 to carry out political assassinations in this ex-Crown colony.
Right Before Our Eyes
13/07/2019 by Thierry MEYSSAN / 1 comment
We are beginning the publication, episode by episode, of the new book by Thierry Meyssan, Right Before Our Eyes. It is an ambitious narration of the History of the last eighteen years, taken from the experience of the author in the service of several Peoples. This book has no equivalent, and can not have one, since no other person has participated in these successive events in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East alongside governments which have been blamed by the Western powers.
Juggling With The Authoritarians: Donald Trump’s Diplomatic Copy Book
12/07/2019 by Binoy KAMPMARK / 2 comments
The central theme to Trump’s copy book can be said to be this: to conserve a cosy position with one authoritarian regime necessitates a punitive approach to another. A calculus for the voter comes into play: you can only fool the electors some of the time. To that end, much has been leveraged on the anti-China sentiment and chest thumping before the Iranian mullahs.
Trump’s Volte-Face On Pakistan Is A Moment Of Truth For India
12/07/2019 by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR / 1 comment
When it comes to Afghanistan, Pakistan is Washington’s preferred partner, while India’s assigned role will be to serve as a doormat for the US’ containment policies against China, bandied about as its ‘Indo-Pacific strategy’. The Indian foreign policy elites owe an explanation as to how this bizarre situation came about. The entrenched Sinophobia in the Indian mindset has clouded rational thinking.
Trump’s Relationship to Russia and China: A Revival of the Henry Wallace Doctrine for the Post-War World?
11/07/2019 by Matthew Ehret / 2 comments
During the course of the G20 important agreements and alliances were reached between Russia-China and the USA which indicate that President Trump is not “just another neo-con” as some of his cynical detractors have claimed, but is actually working to re-orient the United States into a strategic alliance with the […]
A Deal No One Will Accept
11/07/2019 by Eric MARGOLIS
If the tragicomical ‘Deal of the Century’ were to actually come to pass, what will become of the Palestinians, sold down the river by their Arab oil brothers? The Trump administration has not yet specified the details. The unwritten hope is that the two million Palestinians in the Gaza hellhole will remain there, locked up by Israel and Egypt.
Out Of Kilter: National Security And Press Freedoms In Australia
10/07/2019 by Binoy KAMPMARK
Australian society relishes secrecy and surveillance. Forget the laid-back, relaxed demeanour that remains the great fiction of a confected identity; like all such creations, the trace should not be mistaken as the tendency. The political culture of Australia remains shaped by penal paranoia and an indifference to transparency. The citizen […]
The European Union Approves The Nomination Of Four Senior Civil Servants
10/07/2019 by Thierry MEYSSAN
Since the European Union has become a super-national structure by the force of Treaties, how can the member-States choose the senior civil servants who are to give them orders? In fact, they are not doing so, but are settling for accepting the choice of NATO, as presented by Germany and France.
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Metropolitan Isaiah of Tamasos. Photo: news.church.ua
CHURCH OF CYPRUS TO APPEAL TO EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON BEHALF OF UKRAINIAN CHURCH
Source: Orthodox Christianity [KIEV – June 26, 2019] Just as His Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostomos of New Justiniana and All Cyprus has taken the initiative to try to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, so the Cypriot Church is taking the initiative to legally defend the suffering clergy and faithful of the canonical Ukrainian Church. The Church has launched the collection of signatures in Europe to file a lawsuit in the European Court of Human Rights in support of the Church led by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, His Eminence Metropolitan Isaiah of Tamasos said during events in…
Pictured above (from left to right) Fr. Alexander Karloutsos, Presvytera Xanthi Karloutsos, H.E. Archbishop Elpidophoros, Fr. Vasileios Drossos (photo John Mindala)
Archbishop Elpidophoros of America Appoints Father Alexander Karloutsos as Vicar General of the Archdiocese
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America NEW YORK – His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America has appointed the Rev. Protopresbyter Alexander Karloutsos to be the Vicar General of the Holy Archdiocese of America. The office of Vicar General is an extraordinary office, one which is used only at the discretion of the Archbishop. The last Vicar General of the Archdiocese served under the late and blessed Archbishop Iakovos. Speaking of the appointment, His Eminence said: “Father Alex, as he is known to all, has served our Holy Archdiocese and Ecumenical Patriarchate with distinction for over forty years. His service as Vicar…
Archbishop Elpidophoros, left, stands at his throne on the altar next to his predecessor, former Archbishop Demetrios, right, inside the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity during Elpidophoros’ enthronement ceremony as the new archbishop for America, Saturday June 22, 2019, in New York. Elpidophoros is the seventh archbishop for America for the Greek Orthodox Church. Demetrios served in the position for 20 years before resigning on May 4, 2019.
Greek Orthodox church in US gets 1st new leader in 20 years
Source: Religion News Service (RNS) NEW YORK (AP) — The Greek Orthodox church of the United States, a far-flung denomination of 1.5-million members, on Saturday installed its first new leader in 20 years — a lifelong European whose top priority is completing construction of a shrine in New York City linked to the Sept. 11 attacks. Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, 51, a native of Istanbul and a longtime theology professor in Greece, was enthroned as archbishop in an elaborate ceremony at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Manhattan. Many Greek Americans from across the U.S. came to New York for the…
Metropolitan Tikhon guest of Ecumenical Patriarchate at annual pilgrimage to Cappadocia
Source: Orthodox Church in America DEREYAMANLI, CAPPADOCIA, TURKEY [OCA] Orthodox Christian faithful who trace their roots to Cappadocia filled the Church of the Mother of God here on the Sunday of All Saints—June 23, 2019—as His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon concelebrated the Divine Liturgy. Metropolitan Tikhon and a delegation representing the Orthodox Church in America that included Archpriest Alexander Rentel, Chancellor, and Archdeacon Joseph Matusiak had been invited by His All-Holiness to participate in the annual pilgrimage to Cappadocia in conjunction with a three-day pilgrimage to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. His Eminence, Metropolitan Paisius…
Istanbul native enthroned as archbishop of Greek Orthodox church in US
Source: Hurriyet Daily News İpek Yezdani – NEW YORK The Greek Orthodox church of the United States, a far-flung denomination of 1.5 million members, has installed its first new leader in 20 years, and he is from Istanbul. Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, 51, a native of Istanbul, was enthroned as archbishop in an elaborate ceremony at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Manhattan on June 22. The event was attended about 1,000 people, including officials from Turkey, Greece, GreekCyprus and the United States. Among the attendees was Turkey’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Feridun Sinirlioğlu. Other attendees were the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, GreekForeign Minister…
The Enthronement of Archbishop Elpidophoros
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America The Enthronement of Archbishop Elpidophoros will be streamed live on Facebook live, YouTube live, our TV Apps and via the player below: Watch the Live Broadcast TODAY (June 22, 2019) at 11 am ET (8 am PT, 18:00 GMT+3) Enthronement Address of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity New York, New York (June 22, 2019) Secretary Azar, Your Eminence, Metropolitan Avgoustinos of Germany, Personal Representative of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Your Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, beloved and esteemed predecessor, Your Eminence Metropolitan Methodios of Boston, Archdiocesan Vicar, and Beloved Brothers of the Holy…
Archbishop Elpidophoros arrives at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese
ARCHBISHOP ELPIDOPHOROS ARRIVES AT THE ARCHDIOCESE
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America The First Day of a Long and Fruitful Ministry NEW YORK – “This is the first day of a long and fruitful ministry,” said His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America shortly after he arrived today at the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. He was welcomed by the Hierarchs, the clergy and the lay staff, who joyfully anticipated the moment they would see and meet their new Archbishop and spiritual father. His Eminence entered the Archdiocesan Chapel of Saint Paul, lit a candle and venerated the holy icons before proceeding to the throne and presiding…
Metropolitan Elpidophoros
Challenges of Orthodoxy in America and the Role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
By Webmaster on June 17, 2019 Governance & Unity Essays, Governance & Unity News
[Editor’s Comment: The Archbishop-Elect demonstrates with his words, that he does not understand the history of the Orthodox Church in USA. How can he be a servant leader of the clergy and faithful here?] Challenges of Orthodoxy in America and the Role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate By Very Reverend Archimandrite Dr. Elpidophoros Lambriniadis Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod (Chapel of the Holy Cross, March 16, 2009) Reverend Protopresbyter Nicholas Triantafyllou, President, Reverend Protopresbyter Thomas Fitzgerald, Dean of the School of Theology, Reverend and Esteemed Members of the Faculty and staff, Dear Students, It is an exceptional honor and…
Metropolitan Daniel of Vidin makes a case against Patriarchate of Constantinople’s claims to primacy of power in Orthodox world
Source: The Russian Orthodox Church Department of External Relations According to the official website of the Bulgarian Patriarchate, on March 7, 2019, Metropolitan Daniel of Vidin, a hierarch of this Church, sent a letter to His Holiness Patriarch Neophyte of Bulgaria and members of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church presenting his arguments against the Patriarch of Constantinople’s claims to primacy of power in the Orthodox world, especially against the decision to revoke the 1686 act on transfer of the Metropolia of Kiev to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate and against Phanar’s opinion on its alleged right to…
US gets new archbishop from Istanbul’s Bakırköy
By Webmaster on June 14, 2019 Governance & Unity News, Governance Top Stories, Orthodox News, Orthodox News Top Stories
Source: Hurriyet Daily News İpek Yezdani – ISTANBUL For the first time in history, a Turkish citizen has been chosen as the archbishop of the U.S. to lead the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, who was born and raised in the Bakırköy district of Istanbul, is chosen to lead all the Orthodox and Greek congregation in the U.S. A native of Istanbul, Lambriniadis had been serving as the principle of the closed Halki Seminary on Heybeliada, an island off Istanbul’s coast, and teaching as a professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. Lambriniadis said he was chosen by the council called “Holy Council’ (Synod) of the Greek Orthodox Church, which consisted of 12 members and…
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The moon methinks looks with a watery eye;
And when she weeps, weeps every little flower,
Lamenting some enforced chastity.
Titania: A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Act III Scene 1
Evidence provided by Alfred E. Kinsey in his exhaustive clinical studies and interviews with American women in the 1950s provides the psychological profile for the behavior that we know from reading the most reliable of her biographies. Far from the profligate queen that her enemies would have her, the notion that Queen Elizabeth could have given out-of-wedlock birth in secret is without foundation either in fact or in likelihood. Once past the nightmarish results of her dalliance with Dudley in 1560, not only would she not dare to take such a risk, she was no longer able even to want to.
Both Jenkins and Somerset, after studying the heaps of documents that bear on the Elizabethan reign, hold that the Seymour affair caused permanent damage to her psycho-sexual development. Seymour’s overbold flirtation, followed by the horrors of his execution and her own ordeal by third degree took place at that most sensitive moment in a girl’s development when, as Kinsey describes, her body had become that of a woman but her ability to respond sexually was still not fully formed. Of mature unmarried women with no experience of orgasm, Kinsey says:
Many of them were sexually responsive enough, but they were inhibited, chiefly by their moral training, and had not allowed themselves to respond to the point of orgasm. Many of them had been psychologically distrurbed as a result of this blockage of their sexual responses. (526)
The “moral training” that Kinsey blames for inhibiting the sexuality of white Anglo-Saxon female protestants in the 19th and early 20th centuries, was a descendant of the anti-sexual aspects of the Protestant Reformation that got its first real foothold on the English culture during the 40 years of Elizabeth’s reign.
The women Kinsey studied in the 1950s, though far less repressed than Elizabeth, were much more so than most women today. Of those he studied, Kinsey tells us
At forty-five years of age there were still 15 percent of the devout Protestant females who had never experienced orgasm in their lives, but only 5 percent of the inactive [not devout] Protestants who belonged in that category. . . There seems to be no doubt that the moral restraints which lead a female to avoid sexual contacts before marriage, and to inhibit her responses when she does make contacts, may also affect her capacity to respond erotically later in her life. (516)
Kinsey makes what may be the most important point where Elizabeth is concerned:
All of these females . . . were limited in their understanding of the nature of sexual responses and orgasm, and many of them seemed unable to comprehend what sexual activity could mean to other persons. They disapproved of the sexual activities of females who had high rates of outlet [satisfaction] and they were particularly incapable of understanding the rates of response which we have reported for the males in the population. . . . When such frustrated or sexually unresponsive, unmarried females attempt to direct the behavior of other persons, they may do considerable damage. (526)
Many at Elizabeth’s Court would have seen this as a description of their mistress. Somerset describes her attitude towards her ladies-in-waiting:
Ideally Elizabeth would have preferred it if more of her female attendants had followed the example of ladies such as Blanche Parry and Mary Radcliffe and remained single. Not only did she resent the upheavals that her ladies’ marriages caused in her own domestic arangements . . . but she failed to see why they needed the fulfilment of family life any more than she did. She would “much exhort all her women to remain in virgin state as much as may be,” and even on those occasions when she pretended that she would not mind if they married and asked her ladies if they had anyone in mind, “the wise ones did well conceal their liking thereto, as knowing the Queen’s judgement in this matter.” (346-7)
Elizabeth’s ignorance when it came to the emotional realities of marriage and family life can be seen in the amazingly naive idea she came up with in 1563, that the problem of Mary Queen of Scots could be solved by marrying her to Elizabeth’s own favorite, Robert Dudley (Erickson 211-17). She had him created Earl of Leicester on purpose to raise his status so that legally he could marry someone of Mary’s rank. As Erickson explains, since she couldn’t marry him herself, and thus satisfy his ambitions to be a king, she would take care of him in this way, and her sister Queen as well. It’s really rather sad. Certainly Mary thought it strange.
Most significant is the intensity of her rage when some member of the Court was caught either having sex or marrying without her permission (348). It’s one thing to get cross with a couple who know they need her permission and don’t ask for it, or who endanger the Court’s reputation with careless behavior; it’s another to throw them in the Tower, leaving them there for months, sometimes years. Doubtless some of this was about maintaining control, but still, would a woman who herself had had, or was having, adult sexual relations for pleasure, carry these tantrums to the extremes that she did?
Not only did she hate to see her courtiers pair off, either sexually or as marriage partners, she was ice cold to normal family needs, refusing to allow ambassadors to return to their families after they’d been abroad for years, making decisions that separated couples and family members, and looking for any excuse to refuse the wives of her favorite male courtiers access to Court society. Her time was one that did not pay much attention to what we think of as family bonding, but Elizabeth took this to extremes. Neither sexual nor family needs were part of her vocabulary.
Another symptom of her negativity towards marriage and family was her determination that clergymen should not marry. Obtaining the right to marry was one of the leading reasons why many former Catholic clergymen were willing to turn Protestant. Had her reasons been political, she would surely have yielded on a point that was so obviously politically expedient . Why should she care whether or not these men married? But she was undetered, refusing to promote those who were married, while she favored both courtiers and clergymen who remained unmarried, giving them top spots in her government while sending the married men off to foreign embassies where they were forced to live separated from their families.
Lovely lads
Historians tell us that Elizabeth had many “favorites,” but we mustn’t assume that a favorite was a lover (the Elizabethans often use the word lover to mean a particularly close friend and the word friend to mean what we mean by lover). Accepting that Dudley played a signficantly different role in her life, Elizabeth’s other favorites were more like protégés, particularly as she got older––good to look at, fun to talk to, and above all, good dancers. The estates and lucrative monopolies she bestowed on them were less gestures of affection than bonds to keep them by her side and, not least, to keep them out of the marriage market. And God help them if they strayed.
What confuses historians is the fantasy of courtship that she required, not only from her favorites, but from almost any man in search of a post or a favor. Peculiar as it may seem to us today, this was largely a function of the times, a vestigial remain of the medieval tradition of Courtly Love, the unselfish devotion of a knight to a lady who outranked him. This required a good deal of billing and cooing, much of it in the form of coy love notes, lavish gifts of jewelry and clothing, poems, and eloquent dedications. She hugely enjoyed her political courtships with Continental princes, in the case of her last, the Duc d’Alençon, dragging it out for over a decade (Somerset Ladies 72).
Throughout her career she was inclined to respond positively to the kind of tactics that most adults would regard as an invitation to intimacy, but with her this was no more than a charade indulged in purely for public relations and, in the case of a genuine suitor, intended to keep him interested for as long as possible. The pleasure was all in the prologue, which was all there was and all there could ever be.
That Elizabeth greatly appreciated masculine beauty is reflected in the good looks of the men around her, Dudley, Hatton, Oxford, Raleigh, and Southampton among others. They may have had other accomplishments, but their looks were certainly important. At Elizabeth’s Court, masculine beauty far outshone the feminine, a situation that Elizabeth controlled by giving grief to any female who dared to dress more luxuriously than herself, and by stipulating that her maids of honor all dress in white as backdrop to her own peacock array. While women were covered with fabric from head to toe, with great bulky sleeves and skirts, men’s bodies, though covered, were far more obvious, particularly their legs. During a period known to geologists as the “little ice age,” the legs of the attractive younger men were displayed in tight stockings, topped with short little “hose”(pants), not much to keep warm as they stood about in the cold rooms of the palace. No wonder there was so much dancing!
Of course there have been queens who’ve had lovers. Catherine the Great of Russia was one, Marguerite de Valois another, but their circumstances were very different from Elizabeth’s. Both had powerful family connections to rely on, while Elizabeth, with no close relations to any of the great pan-European ruling families and lacking powerful brothers or uncles, was in a weak political position throughout. Her father’s family saw her as an upstart, even a bastard, while her mother’s family, the Howards, most of them Catholics, were more inclined to plot against her than to support her. So had she married into one of these great Continental families, as her courtiers wished, her status at their courts would be questionable. At home, in England, she knew she would never be anything but first.
Both the Russian and the French queen flourished at courts where promiscuity was open and rampant, a lifestyle that even had Elizabeth been so inclined, her Reformation ministers would never have tolerated. Raised from birth in households dependent on the Court, she knew all too well its capacity for gossip and rumor. She knew that if she ever had sex with Dudley, or Hatton, or Oxford, or Raleigh, or any of her so-called favorites, someone would know. Someone would tell (most likely the lover himself).
As social historian Lawrence Stone informs us, today’s concept of privacy was unknown to the Elizabethans (6). Elizabeth rarely slept alone; in fact, neither she nor any monarch ever did anything completely alone. For purposes of security there was always someone near enough to her to hear if there was any kind of trouble, or, if she wished to be by herself, someone close enough to keep an eye on her, if from a distance. Her retainers would have been acutely aware of any substantial amount of time spent alone with anyone but her oldest and hoariest ministers. In addition, the women who surrounded her were the wives, sisters, and daughters of the men who ran her Court and the nation. For their sakes as well as her own, she could not afford to do anything that would tempt them to reveal things that were damaging to her reputation or authority.
Most men do not understand the situation that an attractive woman finds herself in, even today, if she wants to keep her place in an all male arena. It’s hard enough for a woman to aquire the respect of male colleagues, and once achieved, easy to lose. Women in such positions are aware that if they become sexually involved with one of their colleagues they risk losing the trust of the group and will soon find themselves left out of important communications. This behavior seems hardwired into humans at the animal level. It’s not something that’s ever going to be easy to change.
For Elizabeth, it was absolutely imperative that she retain the respect of her Privy Council. They need not love her; they need not even like her; but they had to respect her. If she lost their respect she would find herself isolated, a danger she could not risk. Had she been a male her sex life would have been of minor concern to the Council. As a woman, one whose duty it was to marry and produce a legitimate heir to the throne, anything that threatened this scenario would have been a disaster, certainly for her, possibly for them. She came close to losing control once, back in 1561, with terrible results (the murder of Amy Robsart). Elizabeth was a survivor. She wasn’t going to let that happen again.
Francis Osborne in his Memoirs (1658) quotes Henri IV of France as saying that there were three things that people thought false that he knew to be true: that contrary to opinion, the Prince of Orange was a great general, that he himself was a true Catholic, and that the Queen of England was a virgin (Chamberlin 194). Henri was the brother-in-law of Elizabeth’s last suitor, the Duc d’Alençon. Because he was a legal suitor, she was able to spend many hours alone with him, soon becoming very fond of this small, ugly, unthreatening figure, many years younger than herself, so fond that she may well have fooled even herself as to her intentions to marry.
Family members don’t always get along, certainly Navarre and d’Alençon did not, but they are also inclined, at moments when they are getting along, to exchange the kind of information that they might not share with anyone else. Navarre would have been interested in anything his brother had to tell him about Elizabeth, partly because he often needed her help, and partly because he himself had once been a candidate for her hand.
“Little Betty Blue, lost a holiday shoe . . .”
The Queen of England may have lacked support from the Establishment of European Royalty, but she more than made up for it by the support of her people. Absent the backing of a powerful family network, her main source of support was the public. During her sister’s reign, Elizabeth’s popularity with the people was the major factor in Mary’s hatred. That she was “married to her people” was her own constant excuse for not marrying.
The feeling was mutual. For most of her people the queen would always be the golden-haired angel whose coronation ended the years of exile, imprisonment, torture, and burnings. Evidence of their love can be found in the many Mother Goose rhymes about Eliza, Lizzie, Betty or Bess; all affectionate, none satirical. Yet, although her people wanted her to be happy and to provide the nation with an heir (or two), down deep they didn’t really want her to marry, for if she did, their vision of her would be forced to change.
She knew this, just as she knew that if she married she would lose a great deal of their all-important support, for in a nation bitterly divided over religion and regional interests, no one man could possibly please all, or even half, her people. Whether true or not, her purity was a story they bought into when they first came to know her as a child. They had watched as she bore with courage and dignity the cruelties perpetrated on her by her father and her sister. Despite all the rumors of sex with Seymour and the curse of bastardy, they continued to believe in her, and would continue, that is, so long as there was never any real proof of inappropriate behavior on her part.
The people were also her refuge from the tyranny of her Privy Council. If her ministers wanted her to do something she didn’t want to do, whenever possible she would use her people’s love against them. Knowing them, she knew what they wanted, that she remain always their golden-haired princess, long after the real hair under the red wig had turned sparse and gray. By 1573 she had seen how even a queen from a powerful family like Mary Queen of Scots was treated by her once loyal people after she made the mistake of marrying a man they didn’t like. By not marrying, though it drove her ministers crazy, Elizabeth was able to keep that most valuable weapon in the political battles she had to fight, the undying love of her people, something she would never dare to jeapordize.
The marriage card
As canny a politician as ever lived, Elizabeth hadn’t been in the top power seat for long before she realized that, when it came to the masculine arena of international politics, her sex did give her one great benefit. Where other royal females had to marry men chosen by their fathers and brothers, because she was (legally) free to choose for herself, she had something to offer that no king or prince could provide. While marriage to a male monarch could offer only an alliance, marriage to Elizabeth was seen by the princes of Europe as a potential means of adding England to their territory. This of course would have been a problem for England, but only if she actually married one of them.
The reality was that as long as she remained unmarried, what she did and said may have carried more weight than it would had she been a king. As a queen of marriagable age, one who had, not just an alliance, but conceivably a throne to offer, she wielded a kind of power at the royal courts of Europe that only an unmarried female monarch could. For a good many years it was chiefly this Royal Ace that kept Spain from attacking England and France from invading Scotland. It helped make Sweden and Russia willing to negotiate treaties and trade alliances, and kept them from forming similar alliances with her rivals.
Time would eventually run out for her in this Royal shell game, as of course she had always known it would. Nevertheless, by careful negotiation, by enveloping herself in pearls and satin, and surrounding herself with an attractive entourage at a Court where envoys and ambassadors knew they could always find good entertainment, she managed to keep the game going for almost two decades, giving England time to build a navy, secure its borders, and consolidate most of the nation in a vigorous Protestant lifestyle. Largely as a result of this extended dalliance, when Spain finally attacked in 1588, England was ready.
For a profile of Elizabeth, read Queen Elizabeth.
For details on the causes of Elizabeth’s fears, read This Queen hates marriage.
For more on Elizabeth as the Great Goddess, read The Politics of Frustration.
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602.534.7278 info@phxpdmuseum.org
Cops & Cruisers
Our Chiefs
Display Vehicles
An interview with Seth Scott Allen – Badge #301
by Newsletter Submittal | Mar 18, 2019 | Newsletter | 0 comments
August 15, 2008 Conducted by Dannette Turner
Seth Allen became an Officer in 1956. He was 25 years old, married, and moved to Phoenix from Thatcher, Arizona. When he joined the Phoenix Police Department he lived at 723 N 28th street in Phoenix. He was born and raised in Thatcher where he attended Thatcher Public School until 1945, and graduated from Thatcher High School in n1949.
After graduating High School War broke out in Korea, shortly afterward Seth joined the United States Navy for one year and attained the rank of A.D.A. N. After basic training, Seth enrolled in a special program to train Reserve Officers in Helicopter mechanics. Seth was later transferred to Air Sea rescue duty. After his tour he returned to Thatcher and from 1950 to 1952 he attended Eastern Arizona Junior College majoring in education. Eventually he was recalled to Duty preventing Seth from graduating.
After his enlistment was completed Seth began working in a family business. While working he heard an advertisement for the Phoenix Police department who were looking for Police recruits. Seth came to Phoenix where he took the Police exam at the Phoenix Public Library with about five hundred other applicants. Seth was invited back the next day for the physical agility test. When the testing was completed Seth ended up second on the hiring list. The number one applicant was a Beverly Hills Police Officer who failed to show up for the Academy when called. Seth then began his career at the Phoenix Police Academy at South Mountain with many other Recruits. Previous recruit classes had to attend class at a Jail Annex. Seth’s class used an empty prisoner barracks for a classroom at the new South Mountain Academy. There was no form of Air Cooling at the academy in those early years. Most classes were about six weeks long and there was no physical conditioning. Approximately twenty graduated in Seth’s class. This was an extraordinarily large class compared to the previous average of only three or four graduates.
At this time the Phoenix Police department was planning a very large expansion to keep up with the many people who were now moving into the valley of the sun to enjoy the wonderful weather. The Phoenix City limits at that time were about twenty five square miles, which was patrolled by about 120 sworn Officers.
After graduation Seth was assigned to patrol. Police headquarters at the time was at 120 South 2nd avenue, the building currently occupied by the Maricopa County Superior Court. The jail was also inside this building occupying the upper level. The police uniform at the time was all dark blue wool. They also had to wear a visor style cap, which had to be worn at all times. There was no clothing allowance and all uniforms were supplied at John’s Uniform shop.
Seth’s training Officer was Lee Bartleson. Lee was considered by many as an excellent cop and very good trainer. The patrol car at that time was primarily a Nash Lark. In 1960 it was the first Police patrol car that came equipped with Air Conditioning. Prior to 1960 none of the patrol cars came with Air Conditioning.
His first day on the job brought him to briefing in the basement of the Old City Hall located at 17 South 2nd avenue. He arrived early for work and immediately observed a shabby looking Officer wearing cowboy boots, passed out drunk lying on a table in the briefing room. The sight of this made him wonder if he had chosen the right career path. Apparently this inebriated gentleman was an old timer on the department who did not last much longer.
Seth’s first call solo without a training Officer was an Airplane Crash. A Plane from California with four elderly people aboard crashed. It was raining and they couldn’t find the airport. The plane ran out of gas and crashed into a house. The scene was very gory and he could not differentiate if the bodies were male or female. This occurred in 1957.
The Chief of Police was Charlie Thomas, who was very set in mandating constant wear of the new visor style hat. At first Seth was a little afraid of Charlie Thomas because he seemed like such a grouch. Seth eventually learned to love Thomas and the two would become good friends. Seth remembers that just before Charlie Thomas died, while at Charlie’s house, Charlie asked to see Seth. Charlie then told Seth that he wanted Seth to have his original Patrolman’s badge. Charlie said, “ I wanted to give you my Chief’s badge but my grandson wanted it”. Charlie had Officer Badge number 54. Charlie had come on in the 1940’s.
Seth felt that Charlie Thomas had helped his career allot. Seth remembered how initially he tried to stay away from Charlie because he seemed to always find something wrong. He remembered how one day when he (Seth) was a Sgt in Investigations he was walking down the hallway when Charlie stopped him and asked him, “How would you like to work in the jail”? Well Seth had a pretty good job at the time and certainly did not want to work in the jail. Seth thought for a minute and replied, “Chief I don’t want to work in the jail, but if you want me to and you transfer me to the jail I will be the best jail Sergeant you ever had”. Charlie replied, “You’re a loud mouth” and transferred Seth to the jail. On his first day at the jail Charlie walked him around and showed Seth everything about the jail he did not like. He also pointed out the jail procedures he did not care for. Charlie told Seth, “When you get this jail the way it should be call me and I’ll come down and inspect it, and if I feel it’s in shape, you can name your transfer to wherever you want to go”.
Seth began his task of reworking the jail. At the time they used Officers for jailers. Officers treated a transfer to the jail as a sentence, or punishment. They definitely did not want to be there. Seth proposed that they stop that policy and hire civilians to be jailers. Seth found some good retired military men to work the jail. One of them a retired Navy Chief Bosom’s mate from WWII. He knew how to clean this place up and that he did. Prior to this undertaking the jail had never been cleaned, just repainted. So Seth and his knew crew sanded and scraped the bars to the bare metal, top to bottom. For seven months they toiled at the tough task. One day Charlie Thomas came up to Seth and took the jail keys from him. Charlie then went all through the jail inspecting it. Charlie never said a word until he returned to the front desk. Charlie set the keys down, looked sternly at Seth and stated, “Where do you want to transfer to”?
When Seth left the jail he became a Motor Sergeant. Seth did this because he thought he needed the experience to further his career. He also needed to be a Motor sergeant if he was ever going to command a Motor squad. In the past Seth had always been critical of Motor Officers because he saw them form little clicks and they seemed to separate themselves from others. He saw them hide and get together to have their own little meetings. Seth decided to change all that. He ordered his men not to get together in groups at the same time, unless they were directing traffic. This did not make him very popular with his troops. He also had not ever taken the Motor training. So there wouldn’t be an objection he attended Motor training.
When Seth was a Patrol Sergeant the city annexed South Phoenix from the County. He was given a squad that became the first Phoenix Police squad to patrol South Phoenix. He remembers they were stationed in an old store. The city annexed so much land within that area that eventually it got so busy they had to put a substation out there.
When Seth thinks back at his career he remembers his days as a dispatcher in Communications. It was a raise in pay which was nice, but it was a nightmare job to work. His desk was situated in a small cubicle at the rear of the jail. There was only one man on duty at a time, so you had no breaks, and no meal time. Before there were multi-phone lines, he had 14 separate telephones to answer. All had different rings, and you had to know which phone had what ring. To communicate with the County Sheriff’s office they only had radio, no phone. This shift lasted eight grueling hours. Every incoming call had to be typed up on an old fashioned typewriter. The extremely busy job was also very stressful. They rotated shifts regularly, the worst shift being second shift which ended at 2:00 am.
Seth remembers when he was working as a dispatcher the day Paul Bluhm was killed. Motor Cycle Officer Bluhm tried to stop a pickup truck that had a camper shell on the back. A man in the back of the truck opened fire on Officer Bluhm from inside the camper shell. Officer Bluhm was shot through the chest. Seth was working the radio when this occurred. Officer Bluhm, after being shot was able to use his radio and cleared, “301 (pause) 999-998”! Seth remembers Bluhm’s voice sounding somewhat gurgled. Seth asked, “301 what is your location”? Again Bluhm said, “999”! Again Seth asked, “301 what’s your location”? Bluhm last replied, “9” (only) and Seth heard nothing more. Seth knew that Bluhm had to be found quickly. Every available Officer was out looking for Motor Officer Bluhm. That same day Motor Officer Dale Stone was racing the streets everywhere looking for his good friend Paul Bluhm. Dale was involved in an accident and he also was killed. This was the first death of a fellow Officer in young Seth Allen’s career and tragically it had to involve two dead Officers in the same day.
Seth remembers that when he came on they were just starting to issue radios to all Officers. Prior to that, Officers had to use “Call Boxes” which were strategically placed around the city for Officers to use to get information on what was happening in the city. The busiest of these phones was located in “Paris Alley”.
There was also a Private Ambulance service at the time called “Silvio’s”. Most PD Officers back then would say to each other, “if anything happens to me please don’t call Silvio”s. Phoenix Memorial Hospital was the main hospital at the time. It was the closest to downtown. “Memorial” as it was known, never questioned people as to whether they could pay or not, everyone was treated. Other hospitals at the time would and did refuse to treat people who could not pay, even if they came in bleeding.
Early in Seth’s career he would have to regularly go down to the shooting range and shoot. He quite often would take his young son along with him especially on night shoots. Seth’s son Paul would carry along his cap gun and stand in the back areas with range master Frank Costello
Charlie Thomas once told Seth that he wanted to hire married men who had roots rather than single men that were wilder. Charlie also preferred men of the Mormon faith, although he would never advertise this. Charlie knew the city preferred LDS members because a great deal of them spoke foreign languages and they did not get drunk and carouse around with other women. LDS Officers eliminated problems with young Officers starting a new career.
During his career Seth worked in the Vice unit. Back then you did not ask to go to Vice, you were asked if you were interested in working Vice. Your wife also had input into whether or not you were assigned to Vice. There was even an Academy for the wives of Vice Officers so they could be told what to expect. Seth’s wife would lead the meetings at the Ladies Vice Academy. She was also very glad when Seth left the Vice Unit.
Seth Allen was assigned at the Academy as the Training Director when the department first began to hire female Police Officers. Mary Van Doren was the first female Phoenix Police Officer. Mary would eventually end up working as a plain clothes detective in the Juvenile crimes detail. When the Police department first began to hire females there was no female uniform for them to wear. Seth’s wife was a seamstress, so she and Seth went to John’s Uniform shop and bought the material to make them a uniform. The first female Police Officers wore a skirt which they did not like at all. Eventually they ended up wearing slacks from John’s with the zipper in the back. Eventually they would end up with the same uniform as the men.
Seth was glad to see the implementation of the bullet proof vest. He feels that Officer Paul Bluhm may have survived his shooting had he been wearing a vest. Seth never wore a vest in his entire career. He does not even remember any Officer working for him that ever wore a vest. Later on in Seth’s career two plain clothes detectives were killed in a bar in a shootout with an armed robber and they too would probably have been saved if they had been wearing a vest. But even today’s detectives seldom wear vests.
When Seth was a young patrolman the police department seldom ran a two man car. Seth never really worried about being killed on duty. At no time has he even felt like he was in danger. Seth once had a partner named Jack Cozad(sp) who was shot through the hand. The doctors were able to rebuild his hand. The tragedy of this was prior to being a Police Officer he was the lead guitar player for Country singer Marty Robbins. Marty Robbins was also his brother-in-law. Jack was a very gifted musician.
Later on Seth would become a Sergeant. To be a Sergeant back then you had to be an Officer for at least four years. There were 21 or 22 Officers that were all shy 1 day of qualifying for the Sergeant’s test. The decision on whether or not they could take the test lie in the hands of Charlie Thomas. Charlie barely hesitated in allowing all the Officers to take the test. Of that list Seth was included in a group of 4 or 5 Officers who were promoted together on the same day. All were in Seth Allen’s Academy class. One of these was Ed Cassidy. Little did Seth realize that by the time he had twelve years on he would be a captain.
During his career Seth Allen would work in every unit on the Police department. He later learned that he had been used as a trouble shooter. If there was a problem in Burglary he ended up a Sergeant in Burglary. If there was a problem in Homicide he was sent to Homicide as a Lieutenant. He attributes this to why he was moved around so frequently. He was concerned that it looked bad on paper but he had nothing to do with it. Seth’s career ran very smoothly until Paul Blubaum was made the chief. Paul Blubaum also came up through the ranks quickly.
When Charlie Thomas retired the city council had to pick a new chief. There was great debate among the councilmen about who to select. They seemed to be evenly divided between Herb Neal and another Captain. Because the deadlock could not be broke Paul Blubaum who was the alternate was picked. Nobody seemed to know much about Paul at the time. Being elected chief seemed to go to Paul’s head. He immediately became impossible to work with. He would come to staff meetings literally grinding his teeth.
Captain Herb Neal lived within a few blocks of Seth’s house. Herb had a take home car and at the time Seth did not. Both worked together so Herb would pick Seth up every day and they would ride together to work. Chief Blubaum hated Herb Neal so the riding together was stopped.
Sgt. Allen soon tested for Lieutenant. Seth made the list but was soon passed over again and again. He was passed over three times. Seth complained to the City Council and they looked into the matter and made Chief Blubaum promote Seth. Seth was a Motor Sergeant at the time when he was told he had to do a V.I.P. motorcycle escort. Seth went into the Office to see the Chief’s secretary. Instead the chief was seated in his chair in his Office. The chair was pointed at the wall behind his desk. The Chief refused to turn and look at Seth. Seth said, “Do you want to see me Chief”? Chief Blubaum said, “Yea, I’ve got to promote you to Lieutenant. I don’t think you’re capable of being a Lieutenant on a police department and I will do everything in my power to see you are fired and if you were smart you’d retire right now”. Seth told him, “That’s not going to happen”. Chief Blubaum said, “Marilyn has your badges, take them and get out of here”! Seth stated, “Chief, I have an assignment tonight, it would be difficult to wear Sergeant stripes with Lieutenant bars”. Chief Blubaum said, “Do you want to be a Lieutenant’? Seth said. “Yes”! Chief Blubaum said, “Then take your badges and get out of here”. Seth had to take his Sergeant stripes off one of his uniforms and put his bars on before returning to work that night.
Later on when Seth was testing for Captain, he did what he thought was a very good Oral Interview after placing number one on the written exam. Seth was told he flunked the Oral Interview. He asked why he failed and he was told that he didn’t impress the board as to why he knew the answers. Seth was confused. Later after Chief Blubaum retired the Asst Chief that Flunked him told him, “We were ordered by the Chief to flunk you”. Only 2 or 3 Lieutenants passed that exam so the Police department did another process soon afterward. Seth was number one on both the written and the oral interview. Seth knew that the people on that review board knew about what the Chief had done on his last attempt to make Captain. There had never before been someone who received a 100 on both the written and the oral. When Seth was promoted to Captain, Paul Blubaum left the department.
While Blubaum was still the chief, Seth was assigned to Internal Security, which was later renamed Internal Affairs. He was afraid Blubaum would still mess with him. He was assured by his superiors that this would not happen. The department began using the Polygraph at that time. This created some animosity within the department. In those days Officers became paranoid when they would see anyone from Internal Affairs. This was because of prior conduct by people previously in the unit. It was alleged that they falsely planted evidence in Officers cars in cases against Officers. Seth tried to assure all Officers that this would not happen while he was there. In the late 1960’s a Phoenix Police Officer shot a black man and the department was afraid there would be problems. Seth went to the scene and learned there had been a traffic accident. When Officers arrived at the traffic accident they learned there had also been a shooting. When Chief Blubaum arrived he would not speak to Seth. That night at about midnight Seth was informed that the Chief was busting him from Lieutenant back to Sergeant. Chief Blubaum was doing this because of the way Seth had handled the shooting incident. The chief was mad about Seth’s lack of scene control. Seth advised that he was not in charge of the scene and that another Lieutenant was in charge and he was just doing what he was told to do. Nothing else was said and Seth was not demoted. The other Lieutenant who was in charge of the scene had it out with the Chief over the Chief’s actions.
Eventually the council also became angry with Chief Blubaum and sequestered him until he completed his 20 years at which time he was forced to retire. During this time Asst. Chief Larry Wetzel was appointed Acting Chief, and after Blubaum’s retirement was promoted to Chief. Blubaum went on to Newark New Jersey where he was made Chief of Police and given a three year contract. They also had problems with him and since he had a contract and could not be fired, they put his desk in the Lobby and told him to sit there and he was not to leave his desk. He refused to do that and eventually quit. Blubaum returned to Phoenix.
When Seth was a Major, one day he was sent to a meeting at the Civic Plaza, with the manager of the Civic Plaza whose name was also Allen. A much disheveled man who looked like a homeless person came into the meeting room. This man had long hair and a gray beard and very wrinkled clothing. He was walking around the room when the manager asked the man, “who are you, what do you want”? The man replied, “My name is Paul Blubaum and I work for the security company that guards the civic plaza”. Manager Allen said, “ you don’t work for me and this is my meeting, get out of here, I know about you”. That was the last Seth saw of Paul Blubaum.
When Phoenix got there first Helicopters Seth was heading up the Air Support Unit. At the time there were only two fixed wing aircraft, and three small Helicopters. Hughes Aircraft Company supplied the small style Helicopter used by the department. This Helicopter was intended to be the eyes and ears for patrol. This philosophy started changing when Phoenix bought a new Helicopter. The Fire department was concerned about fighting fires on huge high rise buildings where it would be necessary to transport firefighters to the roofs of buildings. At that time only the military had Helicopters big enough to do this. In Tucson, the Air Support unit found nearly new surplus Helicopters from the Viet Nam war that could be purchased for just $500 each. These Helicopters were worth Millions. Seth wrote up a plan for the department to purchase several of these Helicopters for use by the Air Support Unit. Eventually lawyers became involved and when they were done these $500 Helicopters would cost 1 ½ million dollars to rebuild them no matter how few hours they had on them. The plan to buy the Helicopters obviously fell through.
When Seth was a Major he was asked to look into the purchase of new motorcycles. The department had always driven Harley Davidson’s. Seth decided to look into another brand of Police Motorcycle, the Kawasaki. He purchased one each of Harley Davidson and the Kawasaki that were offered for Police use. He mandated that each Motor Officer spend one day on each Motorcycle, and then evaluate each. Seth remembers one day when Bill Wallach who was a Harley man through and through was asked to do the same evaluation. Wallach refused to ride the Kawasaki. Wallach said, “I’m not riding that Japanese piece of crap”! Major Allen then replied calmly, “Okay just tell me where you want to go on your transfer request, if you’re gonna ride Motor’s you will ride that motorcycle or I will help you get a job somewhere else”! Seth remembers when Bill Wallach returned the Kawasaki after riding it for 2 or 3 days. He came into Major Allen’s Office and said, “Major, buy me one of those”! That is when Seth decided to buy Kawasaki’s instead of Harley Davidson’s.
Other agencies had experimented with Community or District Policing, and it worked well. The phoenix City Council liked the idea and told the department they wanted it implemented. The police department experimented and did some research and development. Seth’s unit contacted all the agencies that had implemented District Policing. Afterwards they wrote up a report and Seth put in the last paragraph in the report that he thought District or Community Policing was a disaster and will never work and has never worked anywhere that it was used. Because of the Politics involved the Police department announced that they were implementing District Policing, but the program we began was a completely different program instead. The name was changed and the department eventually returned to the original way they were policing.
Seth Allen was also involved in the implementation of the Mobile Digital Terminal (MDT). This was a Federally Subsidized program to put computers into Police cars. This was a very successful program because of the Fed’s involvement. Eventually, the research that the Phoenix Police Department did on this became available to every other agency interested in the program. The department was contacted from all over the world wanting to know about how we were able to implement the program. The entire program was paid for by the Federal Government. The department had to install 20 tons of air conditioning in the main computer room for this system to work without overheating.
Around the time of the Miranda decision Seth Allen went to Prison to interview Miranda. Seth found him working in the prison barber shop shining shoes. He charged $10 to sign Officers Miranda Cards. Seth described Miranda as just a dumb criminal and ended up getting shot to death on the streets of Phoenix. When the Supreme Court issued the Miranda decision everyone in Law Enforcement felt the effects of the decision. Everyone felt as if Law Enforcement was doomed because of this monumental decision. Seth Allen believes that this decision woke us up to personal rights and caused Officers to go to school and learn all the legal aspects surrounding the decision. Now Law Enforcement thinks nothing of it. Seth predicts that the decision continues to be re-examined by legal experts and someday soon the decision will be reversed.
Seth also feels that the decision has caused Law Enforcement to look closely at technology and are now using tools such as DNA to solve crimes instead on relying so heavily on suspects incriminating themselves in Interrogations. Seth believes that DNA is the greatest tool since Fingerprint identification to assist Law Enforcement. He believes that the Miranda decision has led us to these areas of crime fighting techniques.
Seth states that his favorite job on the Police department would have to be when he was the Director/Commander at the Training Academy. His wife also seemed to enjoy his stint there. While he was the Commander there he was promoted to Major and remained at the Academy. He remembers an incident while there involving a female recruit who refused to run. One day she showed up at the PT class with a cast on her leg. She told her Sergeant that her Doctor said she had to wear the cast, but she had no note or documentation. It turned out her Doctor was her boyfriend. Seth got involved and told her she would have to continue running with her class with or without her cast. That day she ran with the cast on. The next day she arrived for the run without the cast. Seth was assigned to the academy for 1 ½ years. When he was promoted to Major, Chief Wetzel initiated it as an appointed position. Appointed by the Chief at the pleasure of the Chief.
Seth remembers when he was a Major there was a bad plane crash in San Diego. Approximately 67 people were killed in the crash. The Mayor called the Chief and asked that he send someone to San Diego to oversee how the City and the Police handled the situation. The thought was that someday Phoenix could have such a catastrophe and what problems arise in such an event. Seth was immediately told to get there as soon as possible. A Phoenix Police plane flew him to San Diego. Because of his going there, Phoenix was able to set up the necessary infrastructure in case this or a similar event should occur in the Valley. He learned about the pitfalls encountered in San Diego such as no morgue facilities for so many bodies, and the need for teams of Officers to scour miles of terrain to collect body parts. Refrigerated tractor trailers had to be brought in for both stationary holding facilities and mobile collection facilities. When Seth returned he wrote up the procedures for what Phoenix should do if and when this occurs here.
In the 1970’s Phoenix was the recipient of two one hundred year floods in two years. The bridges washed out and people on the east side of town couldn’t travel to the west side and west side couldn’t reach the east side. Near Seth’s home was a vacant lot. His home was on the opposite side of a washed out bridge, so every day a Phoenix Police helicopter had to pick him up in the vacant lot and bring him downtown. As the flooding got worse it was reported that the main Central Avenue Bridge was shaking. He was flown by helicopter to the south end of the bridge. The DPS Director landed on the north side of the bridge. They both walked toward each other and Seth could feel the bridge shaking badly. When they met at the center they both looked at each other and said, “What do we do”? The DPS director then said, “The first thing we do should be get off of this bridge”. They got safely off of the bridge but not too long afterward a section of the bridge collapsed. About the same time this was going on a DPS Officer in Northern Arizona was killed when a bridge he was on collapsed.
While serving the Phoenix Police Department as Assistant Chief, Seth Allen retired. Shortly afterwards he was approached by a Citizens Committee that was seeking an Under Sheriff for the County. The current Sheriff had fired the three previous Under Sheriff’s. Seth was asked if he would consider taking the job. He accepted the job and went before a Board of Supervisors meeting which was attended by the County Attorney and several Judges. Seth was introduced. The Sheriff went before them and said, “Here’s the guy I want but he won’t work for the small salary of $27,000 per year the job pays”. Seth wanted a minimum of $30,000. The County Attorney said that if they could get someone with his experience for just $30,000 they should pay it. The board said, “OK you’re hired”.
Seth came on board and found the current Deputies to be a bunch of Yokels. This was typical of what was happening at the time. Seth had an extremely hard time adjusting. The Deputy’s were very deficient. Some were refusing to answer calls. Others were sleeping on the job. One particular Deputy, an older veteran, refused to answer potential violent calls. One night Seth told the dispatcher to send him to the Geronimo Bar on a fight call. He came on the air and said he was a long way off, on the other side of the County. Seth told her to call him back and send him to the Santa Fe Lodge, which was a bar near him on another fight call. This time he cleared her back and said he couldn’t because he had a flat tire. At that point Seth got on the radio and told him to come into the Office and see him. When the Deputy arrived Seth said to him, “You didn’t have a flat tire did you”? He said, “No”. Seth asked him, “What’s going on”? The deputy told Seth how it’s become a young man’s job and retired right there.
Seth then told the dispatchers that there is no such thing as “nobody available” to answer a call because from now on he would be available 24/7. After that Seth started getting called out from home to answer calls all over the County. When he would arrive at the calls nothing would be there as if he was being tested to see if he really meant what he said. When everyone realized that he would respond at any time the calls stopped. Seth remembers having an issue very similar in Phoenix. One morning very early, Seth could not sleep, so he decided to just get dressed and go to work real early. While traveling into work about 5:30 AM a call came out and nobody would answer up, so he did. The reason nobody would answer up was because the shift change was at 6:00 am, and everybody wanted to get off on time. When everyone heard “Patrol 2 I’ll take that call”, them all of a sudden 3 Officers answered up for the call. Seth heard this and told the dispatcher that he wanted her to send him a printout of where everyone was at in the district when that call came out. When Seth got the printout he tore it up, but nobody knew that.
About one year ago Seth was approached by a man at a baseball game in Thatcher. He identified himself as a retired Phoenix Police Officer. This man remembered an incident many years ago about 3am when he was at a Burglary in progress call alone and saw a hole in the roof, and he knew the suspects were inside. Then Seth arrived at the scene. Seth remembered the call and when he arrived the Lieutenant didn’t seem to know what to do. Seth asked him “what are you going to do”? The Lieutenant said, “I don’t know”. So Seth said watch, and then found an employee entrance. He went inside and found 3 people on the floor with their hands on their heads. They were the burglars. Seth knocked on the window and made one of them open the door. Seth summoned 3 patrolmen and had them handcuff the suspects. Later Seth heard someone say, “Who was that guy”?
One of Seth’s funniest moments was many years ago as a patrolman riding the wagon one night. The wagon had no air conditioning. It was slow and nothing was going on so he and his partner decided to take the wagon to the City Ice plant and fill the back of it up with shaved ice. They eventually were given a wagon to do. They arrived at the jail and backed up to the entrance. Of all people to be at the jail Chief Thomas was standing there and immediately noticed water dripping from the back doors. They opened the backdoors for the Chief. We never did that again!
Since retiring, Seth has been the Town Magistrate in Thatcher. He was sworn in as Judge Pro Tem and used in conflict cases in many cities near Thatcher.
Seth’s hobbies include collecting Badges. He has Phoenix Patrol Badge #1. He also collects Guns. His prize possession is a Rifle that once belonged to Chief Geronimo. Seth’s final comment in this Interview: “This is the greatest job you will ever hate”.
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“Force The Senate To Do Its Job”: Obama Can Appoint Merrick Garland To The Supreme Court If The Senate Does Nothing
On Nov. 12, 1975, while I was serving as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Justice William O. Douglas resigned. On Nov. 28, President Gerald R. Ford nominated John Paul Stevens for the vacant seat. Nineteen days after receiving the nomination, the Senate voted 98 to 0 to confirm the president’s choice. Two days later, I had the pleasure of seeing Ford present Stevens to the court for his swearing-in. The business of the court continued unabated. There were no 4-to-4 decisions that term.
Today, the system seems to be broken. Both parties are at fault, seemingly locked in a death spiral to outdo the other in outrageous behavior. Now, the Senate has simply refused to consider President Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, dozens of nominations to federal judgeships and executive offices are pending before the Senate, many for more than a year. Our system prides itself on its checks and balances, but there seems to be no balance to the Senate’s refusal to perform its constitutional duty.
The Constitution glories in its ambiguities, however, and it is possible to read its language to deny the Senate the right to pocket veto the president’s nominations. Start with the appointments clause of the Constitution. It provides that the president “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint . . . Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States.” Note that the president has two powers: the power to “nominate” and the separate power to “appoint.” In between the nomination and the appointment, the president must seek the “Advice and Consent of the Senate.” What does that mean, and what happens when the Senate does nothing?
In most respects, the meaning of the “Advice and Consent” clause is obvious. The Senate can always grant or withhold consent by voting on the nominee. The narrower question, starkly presented by the Garland nomination, is what to make of things when the Senate simply fails to perform its constitutional duty.
It is altogether proper to view a decision by the Senate not to act as a waiver of its right to provide advice and consent. A waiver is an intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege. As the Supreme Court has said, “ ‘No procedural principle is more familiar to this Court than that a constitutional right,’ or a right of any other sort, ‘may be forfeited in criminal as well as civil cases by the failure to make timely assertion of the right before a tribunal having jurisdiction to determine it.’ ”
It is in full accord with traditional notions of waiver to say that the Senate, having been given a reasonable opportunity to provide advice and consent to the president with respect to the nomination of Garland, and having failed to do so, can fairly be deemed to have waived its right.
Here’s how that would work. The president has nominated Garland and submitted his nomination to the Senate. The president should advise the Senate that he will deem its failure to act by a specified reasonable date in the future to constitute a deliberate waiver of its right to give advice and consent. What date? The historical average between nomination and confirmation is 25 days; the longest wait has been 125 days. That suggests that 90 days is a perfectly reasonable amount of time for the Senate to consider Garland’s nomination. If the Senate fails to act by the assigned date, Obama could conclude that it has waived its right to participate in the process, and he could exercise his appointment power by naming Garland to the Supreme Court.
Presumably the Senate would then bring suit challenging the appointment. This should not be viewed as a constitutional crisis but rather as a healthy dispute between the president and the Senate about the meaning of the Constitution. This kind of thing has happened before. In 1932, the Supreme Court ruled that the Senate did not have the power to rescind a confirmation vote after the nominee had already taken office. More recently, the court determined that recess appointments by the president were no longer proper because the Senate no longer took recesses.
It would break the logjam in our system to have this dispute decided by the Supreme Court (presumably with Garland recusing himself). We could restore a sensible system of government if it were accepted that the Senate has an obligation to act on nominations in a reasonable period of time. The threat that the president could proceed with an appointment if the Senate failed to do so would force the Senate to do its job — providing its advice and consent on a timely basis so that our government can function.
By: Gregory L. Diskant, Senior Partner at the law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, Member of the National Governing Board of Common Cause; Opinion Pages, The Washington Post, April8, 2016
April 10, 2016 Posted by raemd95 | Merrick Garland, Senate Republicans, U. S. Supreme Court Nominees | Apointments Clause, Federal Judgeships, Gerald Ford, John Paul Stevens, Recess Appointments, U.S. Constitution, Wiliam O. Douglas | 4 Comments
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NSU’s Ryan Reed is a finalist for Academic All-America
December 1, 2018 / NPJ
Northwestern State junior safety Ryan Reed has been voted as a repeat selection on the Academic All-District 6 Football Team and is now a finalist for Academic All-America honors to be announced early next month.
The Academic All-America program is operated by the College Sports Information Directors of America. District 6 includes all Division I schools (FBS and FCS) from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. District 6 covers nine states: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Also from the Southland Conference on the District 6 team was Nicholls running back Dontrell Taylor and Southeastern Louisiana linebacker Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund. Ryan, Taylor and Adeyemi-Berglund were the only in-state players selected to advance to the Academic All-America ballot.
The Southland had seven student-athletes voted to the All-District 7 Team that includes Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Kansas and Montana: receiver Josh Fink and offensive lineman Kade Parmelly of Abilene Christian, defensive lineman Andre Walker from Houston Baptist, and defensive backs Adrian Contreras of Sam Houston State and Gavin Roland of Stephen F. Austin.
Reed, who has a 3.52 cumulative grade point average in industrial engineering technology, was the Demons’ third-leading tackler with 81 (38 solo). He was 12th-ranked in tackles among all Southland defenders.
The St. Francisville-West Feliciana product made two interceptions, two pass breakups, and 1.5 tackles for loss this season. Reed contributed to NSU’s Purple Swarm defense ranking third nationally in turnovers forced (26).
He helped the Demons (5-6 overall, 4-5 in the Southland) win three of their last four games, including a 37-34 double-overtime upset of 18th-ranked McNeese and a season-ending 35-23 win at rival Stephen F. Austin. NSU finished just three points shy of its first winning season since 2008.
After 18 career starts, Reed will return to play his senior season in 2019 with 190 career tackles.
← Winners of 2018 LSMSA Science Fair announced
Jazz for Pups Christmas Concert to be held Monday →
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David Stern Sports NFL football Professional football Football African-Americans Coaching Women's sports Diversity in sports Social diversity Social issues Social affairs Men's basketball Men's sports Basketball NBA basketball Professional basketball Workplace diversity Personnel Business
Study: NBA earns overall A grade in diversity hiring
By AARON BEARD - Jun. 18, 2019 04:10 PM EDT
FILE - In this May 28, 2019, file photo, Connecticut Sun center Jonquel Jones shoots over the Indiana Fever defense during a WNBA basketball game, in Uncasville, Conn. Led by Jones, the Sun (8-1) have won their last six games and have started to put a little distance between themselves and the rest of the league. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day via AP, File)
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A diversity report shows the NBA still leads men's professional sports leagues in racial and gender hiring practices.
The annual report card from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at Central Florida on Tuesday indicated almost identical scores from last year. The grade for racial hiring was an A-plus with an unchanged 98.7 score. The grade for gender hiring was a B, but slid slightly to 80.9.
The overall grade was an A at 89.8. That was better than Major League Soccer's B-plus, the NFL with a B and Major League Baseball with a B-minus, all since January. The NHL doesn't participate in the study.
The only professional league with a higher grade from the past year was the WNBA, with an overall A-plus and 97.6 score.
Richard Lapchick, the TIDES director and lead report author, said the NBA has "always had a leadership position" regarding diversity initiatives. The study's release comes less than a week after the Cleveland Cavaliers hired California women's head coach Lindsay Gottlieb from the college level as an assistant coach, making her the seventh woman serving as an assistant coach or player development staffer.
"We always look forward to this report in particular because we know we're going to see encouraging things," Lapchick said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The study examined the racial and gender breakdowns in numerous areas, such as players, coaches, trainers, front-office staffers at the team level and positions at the NBA headquarters. It reviewed data from the 2018-19 season.
The report was particularly good for the NBA league office. It earned an A-plus for racial hiring with 37.6% of professional staff positions filled by people of color, the highest percentage recorded in the study. Women made up 39.7% of those positions for a gender grade of B-plus.
Those were both better than scores for the team level, where people of color made up 31.6% of team management positions (still an A-plus) and women filled 30.9% of those positions for a gender grade of a C.
The league also had 10 head coaches of color among the 30 franchises to start the season and earned an A-plus for its initiatives to promote diversity. Lapchick pointed to an emphasis starting under former commissioner David Stern in the 1980s.
"The NBA is the only league that didn't have to enact a Rooney rule," said Lapchick, referring to the NFL's rule requiring teams to interview at least one minority candidate when searching for a head coach.
"They've just been hiring the best candidates and bringing in a diverse pool of candidates since David took over. And then he pushed that to the team level, where they don't have control but they do have a lot of influence."
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap
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Dwayne Haskins Alex Smith Sports Football Athlete injuries Athlete health NFL football Professional football
Redskins QB Alex Smith on playing again: 'That's the plan'
FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2018, file photo, Washington Redskins quarterback Alex Smith (11) injuries his leg on a sack by Houston Texans strong safety Kareem Jackson (25) and defensive end J.J. Watt (99) during an NFL football game in Landover, Md. Alex Smith says he hopes to play football again but still needs to make such basic progress as relearning how to run on his broken right leg. In an interview during a massage at a mall with "The Oh My Goff Show," posted Friday, June 21, 2019, on YouTube, Smith said "the steps I'm at right now are lifestyle steps," such as being able to play around with his kids. Asked whether he will return to football, Smith replied, "That's the plan."(AP Photo/Mark Tenally, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington Redskins quarterback Alex Smith says he hopes to play football again but still needs to make basic progress like relearning how to run after breaking his right leg.
In an interview during a massage at a shopping mall with "The Oh My Goff Show," posted Friday on YouTube, Smith said "the steps I'm at right now are lifestyle steps," such as being able to play with his kids.
Asked whether he will return to football, Smith replied, "That's the plan."
The 35-year-old Smith broke his right tibia and fibula during a game in November and needed multiple operations. He is still wearing a stabilizing frame on his lower right leg and says he could need it for another 1½ months.
The Redskins finished 7-9 last season and drafted Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins in the first round.
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Home To Kill or Not to Kill
To Kill or Not to Kill
A former Marine who served in Iraq reveals the cold-heartedness of today's corps.
by Tyler Boudreau
U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel John Nagl was an unlikely guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. One of the authors of the 2006 Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, Nagl said: “If I could sum up the book in just a few words, it would be: Be polite, be professional, be prepared to kill.” In that single sentence, he put his finger on a crucial discrepancy. In Iraq, I witnessed this discrepancy. I felt it. I knew from the moment I picked up the Counterinsurgency Field Manual what was missing.
On April 11, 2004, I did something that I’d never before done. I shot a man . . . at least, I shot at him. (Amidst the chaos of the moment, it was difficult to say whether or not he was hit.) It was Iraq. I was a Marine. And we were under heavy attack. It seemed like the thing to do.
Though I’d been in the infantry for more than a decade, I would not exactly describe the moment as perfunctory—automatic perhaps, but not quite perfunctory. Exactly what does it take to level the sights of a weapon and fire it at another human being? Under the circumstances, you wouldn’t think it would take much. And honestly, for me it didn’t.
But it would be precarious to assume that it didn’t take much because of circumstances alone. For some people, circumstances weigh very little in the decision to shoot or not to shoot. In a counterinsurgency operation, military doctrine not only demands of its soldiers a willingness to kill, but a willingness not to kill as well. Training for the Iraq War has slighted the second part. So today, we have a different kind of force, a different kind of warrior. I know. I was one of them.
There was a well-known study—well known within the military, anyway—done directly after World War II by retired Colonel S. L. A. Marshall, author of Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command in Future War. He discovered that even in the thickest of fire fights, the vast majority of soldiers did not fire their weapons. (Based on interviews with the soldiers themselves, Marshall estimated that within the average unit under fire, only 15 percent of men actually pulled their triggers. Even within the most disciplined units, he found that average rose to not more than 25 percent.) Marshall discovered that it was not fear that prevented these men from engaging their enemies, but humanity. All of them reported a keen reluctance to kill.
You can just imagine the military’s dismay upon getting this news. Beneath all the rigid tomes on military tactics lies the fundamental principle of conventional battle: Those who fire the most bullets win. In the military, this principle is referred to as fire superiority. It’s not which side has more guns. Fire superiority is when one unit is discharging a heavier volume of fire than the other, keeping more of the latter’s heads down, thereby allowing the former to maneuver. That’s the key right there—maneuver. That’s how an infantry unit gains forward momentum and how it seizes the initiative. That’s how you win the battle. And that is precisely why Marshall’s findings were so disconcerting, and how a new emphasis on killing entered the military culture, where it has thrived ever since.
The killing culture prevails not simply by indoctrination. With soldiers, the effort is mutual. The military, no doubt, provides an environment in which violence can be looked upon with nonchalance. But that can only take a man so far. A soldier must engage this environment willingly. He must embrace it for it to have any meaningful effect. To be truly desensitized, he must desensitize himself.
When I enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1989, drill instructors conveyed the gory destruction of human bodies with genuine zest. But while I found the instruction initially shocking, I did not find it altogether repelling. In fact, it struck a chord deep within me, a part of me that seemed to already understand this obvious truth: To master one’s reluctance to take life, one must stop revering life so much, particularly that of an enemy.
This unseemly dimension of war, so often unpalatable to civilians, was almost universally taken for granted within the Marine Corps. It had to be. Defending well—our essential calling—meant fighting well. This, in turn, meant killing well, which ultimately meant nurturing the more primal parts of ourselves. It made perfect sense, especially when one took into account Marshall’s revelations from WWII.
We trained ourselves with flair to gouge eyeballs from our enemies’ sockets and crush—literally obliterate—their skulls with the heels of our boots as they lay quivering on the ground. The higher a Marine could swing his leg up into the air and the deeper his heel sunk into the dirt, the more congratulations he received—and the more virile he began to feel. After I wrote a passage about this in Packing Inferno: The Unmaking of a Marine, I received an e-mail from a former Marine I’d recently become friends with. Like me, he served as a rifle company commander, but that was back in the 1950s, and he was displeased by my characterization of Marine Corps training.
“Even as a former infantry officer who has been shot at and has fired back, I found this image of a lust to gouge out eyeballs, and to thrust bayonets into real bodies, very off-putting,” he wrote. “It sounded un-Marine to me. Though there had been some bayonet fighting in Korea, our training in that area was perfunctory. And though we came out of our training determined to be very good Marines, I don’t think we were ever encouraged to think of ourselves as, or be, bloodthirsty. In my day, we prided ourselves, I thought, on cool professionalism that didn’t depend on hating an enemy.”
This former Marine’s name, by the way, was Daniel Ellsberg.
It is, of course, possible that he has simply forgotten what things were really like back in his own day or that he has clung to a nobler myth in defense of his generation of Marines. It is also possible that he’s just plain wrong. But I don’t think he is. Ellsberg’s description of the general attitude toward war when he was a Marine matches very closely with the findings of S. L. A. Marshall. It was exactly this attitude that made American combat units inefficient. It was exactly this attitude that the military sought to, and successfully did, drive out. By the time I arrived to recruit training, “cool professionalism” was no longer the eminent characteristic desired in a young Marine. I’d say it was closer to cold-heartedness.
A soldier is either striving to make himself a better killer or he is resisting. In such an environment, some men will turn out to be more enthusiastic killers than others. But in the days of Daniel Ellsberg, those individuals might seem odd, out of place, or just plain crazy. In today’s efficiency-conscious military, they are more likely to fit right in.
But as often as Marines chant “Kill” in training, they don’t really mean everybody. This is a point so apparent that it tends to divert attention from the military’s rather paradoxical task—to train its soldiers to want to kill, to want it badly enough to do it reflexively in combat, but not to want it too badly. Soldiers are encouraged to make an effort to accomplish the mission efficiently enough to save as many lives in the unit as possible while doing so. “Saving lives,” particularly at the ground level, is not done merely in the spirit of preserving firepower, but out of a genuine desire not to see friends die.
The deaths of a soldier’s comrades are always dealt with in the most solemn manner. Conversely, the enemy’s death is meant to be regarded with indifference and sometimes even amusement, which was precisely the aim of the desensitization in training. Civilians, for their part, occupy a strange space in a soldier’s mind. As noncombatants they must be protected and, therefore, their lives partially heeded. But when they are killed, either inadvertently or by way of some calculated risk, their lives are swiftly sloughed off as “collateral damage” and forgotten. Such an ambiguous posture is often unavoidable on the battlefield where “objectives” always supersede life. This was the gray area that I became intimately familiar with in Iraq.
In 2005, after twelve years of active service in the Marine Corps and with growing reservations about the war, I relinquished command of my rifle company and resigned my commission. It struck me that, in our headlong pursuit to deliver freedom and democracy and to expel an oppressive regime and combat terrorism, we had inadvertently lost sight of the very people we’d been deployed to help. Because the conflict was unconventional, and because our adversaries wore no uniforms and were indistinguishable from the local populace, we began to view all people with suspicion. The distinction between the lives we could revere and those we were compelled to dismiss suddenly became blurred. This was problematic amidst an operation in which gaining popular support, as a method to undermine insurgents, was the paramount task put forth by the Counterinsurgency Manual.
2004, the year I was deployed to Iraq, was a truly violent time. The killing on all sides was rampant. Our own casualties mounted quickly, predominantly from the ubiquitous Improvised Explosive Devices (a.k.a. roadside bombs). I remember clearly the first Marine they brought back to base with his skull broken open by shrapnel. And even more clearly than that, I remember the hatred churning in my gut for those who did it. The trouble was that we didn’t actually know who did it. It was difficult not to make the entire Iraqi population the collective scapegoat for this one Marine’s death. As our frustration swelled, our operations shifted conspicuously from humanitarian (stability and nation-building) to a fierce battle of wills with the insurgents and, by definition, with the populace in which they concealed themselves. The more casualties we took, the heavier our hand became with the locals, and consequently the more recalcitrant they grew.
The Counterinsurgency Manual does anticipate some of what I’m describing. The authors understand that any military occupying a country using excessive force will soon be subverted by its people. They offer useful maxims like, “Sometimes the more force is used, the less effective it is,” and remind commanders that the nature of a counterinsurgency is quite different from that of a conventional battle. The manual advises that “judgment [on how much force to be used] involves constant assessment . . . and troops may have to exercise increased restraint.” Such words seem to imply deep insight into the minds of the occupied, but what I learned in Iraq was what is missing from the text—any insight at all into the minds of the occupiers.
It does not account, for example, for the military’s response to S. L. A. Marshall or the intense cultural shift and decades of desensitization that followed.
It does not account for the hatred that soldiers will feel in the wake of their fallen comrades, or the frustration, or the fear, or the hunger to survive.
It does not anticipate the incompatibility of an inured force, such as the American military has become, with principles that require at least some level of sustained empathy.
And yet, for all its shortcomings, the book itself is not the problem. It merely points to the problem: the irreconcilable nature of the modern warrior and the modern objectives he is sent to achieve.
Contrary to current military doctrine, empathy and aggression do not go hand in hand. The more extreme one’s environment, the more obvious this reality becomes. It is not possible to reduce one’s regard for an enemy’s life without reducing one’s regard for all life. And it is not possible to genuinely strive to help a people, to reach out to them, while simultaneously preparing to kill them. You cannot achieve excellence in both war and humanity at the same time.
Tyler Boudreau served twelve years in the Marine Corps infantry. He now lives with his family in Western Massachusetts. He’s the author of Packing Inferno: The Unmaking of a Marine. His website is tylerboudreau.com.
War And Peace Magazine
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How do you measure a mountain?
The mountains that Nims will be climbing are all measured as “height above sea level”, but there are different ways to measure a mountain. If you take this into consideration then Mount Everest is overshadowed by not one but 2 other mountains.
Mount Kilimanjaro, in Africa, is 5,895m above sea level. This makes it seem quite small in comparison to Mount Everest, but if you took another measurement from the base of the mountain to the summit a different picture arises. Mount Kilimanjaro is then nearly 400m taller than Everest.
One step further to find the tallest mountain then you would need to go to
Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Although it is only a climb of 4,205m to the summit of the volcano, the base has been measured as being 6,000m below sea level. This would then place Mauna Kea nearly a mile taller than Everest at 10,210m.
In 1802 the ‘Great Trigonometrical Survey’ was conducted to measure the entire Indian subcontinent, endorsed by the East India Company. It was led by Lieutenant Colonel William Lambton who was supported by his junior…George Everest.
One of the main accomplishments was to measure the height of Peak XV, K2 and Kangenchunga. Initially known as ‘H’, by1850 it had become Peak XV and in 1856 was measured as the highest point above sea level in the world at 8,840m; in 1865 Peak XV was renamed Mount Everest, after Sir George Everest, Surveyor General of India, by the Royal Geographical Society.
https://www.lib.umich.edu/online-exhibits/exhibits/show/india-maps/survey
The height of Everest was adjusted to 8,848 in 1955.
The story of the height of Everest doesn’t end there. With global warming causing snow & ice melts and the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 2015, doubts are being cast as to whether Everest is still the highest mountain above sea level – did it shrink or grow during the earthquake?
Another measurement for the height of a mountain can be taken from the centre of the earth. If this is the case then the world’s highest peak is Chimborazo in Ecuador; an inactive volcano rising 6,249m above sea level. Because of the curvature of the earth at the equator it would then actually be higher than Everest by that metric.
Does this affect Nims and ‘Project Possible’? Not in the slightest! His focus is not on the measurements but rather on the technical difficulties, the weather and his team.
Maybe you have a view on this subject but for Nims & the team it is about the climb.
Support Bremont Project Possible
Nims can only complete this challenge with the help of partners and kind donations. He needs specialist equipment and support in order to achieve this feat and break the previous world record by over 7 years!
Whatever you are able to contribute will help him to achieve what many believe to be impossible.'
Project Possible Instagram Project Possible Facebook Email Nims Project Possible Twitter
Project Possible
Supported by Intergage and Mad River
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Gary Morlan
Home » 2005 » Gary Morlan
What set this man apart from other shooters who have great shooting accomplishments was his affection for fellow shooters and the unrelenting desire to contribute of himself. Gary kept involved in creatively helping his community or a gun club that needed a little incentive, guidance or spark. The energy that emanated from him was truly remarkable, and even more remarkable was the contagiousness of the good he accomplished. If Gary was leading a project, you can bet there were some enthusiastic followers.
At the Toledo VFW Trap Range, where he was very involved, he organized fun and meat shoots for the benefit of local charities and families, raising thousands of dollars that went directly to those in need. Gary truly made every moment count toward whatever project or goal he was working on. His enthusiasm for life and jovial spirit filtered down to all those having the pleasure of being around him.
Gary was born in 1933 to George and Mary Morlan of Portland, Oregon, the founders of George Morlan Plumbing. He served in the National Guard, the Navy during the Korean War, and the Air Force. He also worked as a police officer in Atwater, CA. As you can see, his past history shows the same dedication to mankind as we knew him for during his trapshooting career.
Gary’s passion for trapshooting took on a life of its own when he and his wife Leone moved to Newberg. This is where he was tagged “Marathon Man” because his sights were set on breaking records. To quote Gary “Records Shall Be Broken”, and indeed they were.
At age 69, Gary began setting records in the PITA by shooting 3,500 targets in one day, 13,700 targets in one week, 22,500 targets in one month, and 132,300 targets in one year. His goal to be the first to shoot 500,000 registered PITA targets was accomplished shortly before his death in 2004.
Gary’s dream to see the Oregon State PITA Shoot again held at the Hillsboro Trap & Skeet Club was also accomplished in 2004. Gary, along with others, worked and solicited diligently to get that club back on its feet. As a result, the 2004 Oregon State Shoot held in Hillsboro was a huge success. All who attended felt his presence, especially when a squad of his close friends fired their final shots of salute to this powerful friend and humanitarian.
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First base fungo hits fly balls to center field (helps here if both fungo hitters move up and apart, hitting from about the front of the mound extended towards the bases). Center throws to second, second baseman is cutoff (for us it was, anyways - change to suit your style). Third base fungo hits balls to left field, who throw to third, with a second shortstop as cutoff (but you really don't need one, if you're shorthanded).
Helmet worn by batter to protect the head and the ear facing the pitcher from the ball. Professional models have only one ear protector (left ear for right-handed batters, right ear for lefties), amateur and junior helmets usually have ear protectors on both sides, for better protection from loose balls, and to reduce costs to teams (all players can use the same style of helmet).
If fungoes are a ball tossed into the air by a batter and then struck as it comes down then a fungo bat is a baseball bat used for hitting fungoes. To go into more detail, a fungo bat is a long, lightweight baseball bat used by coaches (or parents) during pregame hitting or practice to help them hit grounders and pop flys with more consistency and less fatigue. To be one of the best in baseball, countless hours of practice are a must and fungo bats are intended for both infield and outfield practice. Plus, they help tremendously with control and accuracy so that coaches and parents can place a ball where they want when they want.
Prepping for baseball season requires not only discipline and hard work, but also the right gear. Because there are multiple parts to the game in fielding, pitching and batting, using the right equipment is vital to finding success within them all. In order to help you find success in every facet of the game, we select the best brands to carry including, but definitely not limited to Easton, Rawlings, Wilson, Louisville Slugger, and Mizuno. Every player has his own preferences when it comes to a glove, bat, and cleats and that's why it's so important to have not only a vast array of brands and styles within each piece of equipment, but also a Guide on How to Shop for Baseball that helps players or parents discover which glove, bat, and other equipment is the right choice.
Baseball bats are made of either wood, or a metal alloy (typically aluminum). Most wooden bats are made from ash. Other woods include maple, hickory, and bamboo. Hickory has fallen into disfavor over its greater weight, which slows down bat speed, while maple bats gained popularity[5] following the introduction of the first major league sanctioned model in 1997. The first player to use one was Joe Carter of the Toronto Blue Jays.[6] Barry Bonds used maple bats the seasons he broke baseball's single-season home run record in 2001, and the career home run record in 2007.[6] In 2010, the increased tendency of maple bats to shatter has caused Major League Baseball to examine their use, banning some models in minor league play.[7][8]
If you have attended a Major League Baseball game in the last 15 years, pregame infield practice, known simply as infield, may be unfamiliar. All but abandoned by the early 2000s, the ritual lives on at the C.W.S. and at college stadiums all over the country. On Monday night, the routine will be repeated before Virginia takes on Vanderbilt in the first game of the finals.
The origin of the word "fungo" is unknown and argued upon as there are many possible options as to the origins of this unique word. It is assumed by many to be derived from the Scottish word fung meaning to pitch, toss, or fling. This would make sense, as fungo bats are designed to do just that. Or, the alternative to this origin is that fungo comes from 1937 where David Shulman, writer for the American Speech, said, "My guess is that the word, which is baseball slang, may be explained through the elements of a compound word, fun and go." Lastly, a third belief is that the word fungo comes from an old game, similar to that of baseball, where the players used to chant, "One go, two goes, fun goes."
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A lesson noticed nationwide
There are newspaper articles that become fish’n’chips wrapping and there are newspaper articles that change the course of cities.
On 19 March 2000, months before the Sydney Olympics, the Sun Herald reported “The House is Full”. The article appealing to public antipathy to immigration and growth argued that Sydney must stop growing.
The industry knows that article marked one of the worst policy shifts in the state’s history.
Backed by the declaration of the then Premier that “Sydney is full”, the NSW Government stopped investing in infrastructure, introduced new charges and taxes to stifle investment and gave up on planning reform.
But population growth doesn’t halt via political decree. Instead of ‘Sydney is full’ we found that ‘Sydney had stopped’.
The end result was congestion, over-crowding in schools and hospitals and an acceleration in house prices. It was a lesson noticed nationwide.
But nothing in the world is new. This week the front page of another Sydney newspaper declared “We’re full”.
Again, we are witnessing the posturing of the short-term. Fortunately, it's harder to play the same bad trick twice.
The good news is that the growth ahead is quite manageable. According to most experts, the expected growth for our major cities over the next 20 years is about the same as what has occurred over the last twenty years.
While our cities are bigger now – they are also more vibrant, more prosperous, more connected and have better infrastructure and transport planning than 20 years ago. We are overcoming the mistakes of the past, and mostly, getting our cities right.
But we can’t take anything as certain – and our cities still continue to require foresight and leadership from politicians, media and business.
You can be assured that during the debates ahead that the Property Council will continue to advocate for policies that result in cities that are more liveable, sustainable and prosperous.
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The PRS Blog
Status of Legislation in the 15th Lok Sabha
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Shreya - August 19, 2013 Comments
The ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament is being widely viewed as the 'make or break' session for passing legislation before the end of the 15th Lok Sabha in 2014. Hanging in balance are numerous important Bills, which will lapse if not passed before the upcoming 2014 national elections. Data indicates that the current Lok Sabha has passed the least number of Bills in comparison to other comparable Lok Sabhas. The allocated time to be spent on legislation in the Monsoon Session is also below the time recommended for discussion and passing of Bills by the Business Advisory Committee of the Lok Sabha. Eight out of a total of 16 sittings of the Monsoon Session have finished with only 15 percent of the total time spent productively. Success rate of the 15th Lok Sabha in passing legislation India’s first Lok Sabha (1952-1957) passed a total of 333 Bills in its five year tenure. Since then, every Lok Sabha which has completed over three years of its full term has passed an average of 317 Bills. Where a Lok Sabha has lasted for less than 3 years, it has passed an average of 77 Bills. This includes the 6th, 9th, 11th and 12th Lok Sabhas. The ongoing 15th Lok Sabha, which is in the fifth year of its tenure, has passed only 151 Bills (This includes the two Bills passed in the Monsoon Session as of August 18, 2013). In terms of parliamentary sessions, Lok Sabhas that have lasted over three years have had an average of fifteen sessions. The 15th Lok Sabha has finished thirteen parliamentary sessions with the fourteenth (Monsoon Session) currently underway. Legislative business accomplished in the 15th Lok Sabha
For the 15th Lok Sabha, a comparison of the government's legislative agenda at the beginning of a parliamentary session with the actual number of Bills introduced and passed at the end of the session shows that: (i) on average, government has a success rate of getting 39 percent of Bills passed; and (ii) on average, 60 percent success rate in getting Bills introduced. The Monsoon Session of Parliament was scheduled to have a total of 16 sitting days between August 5-30, 2013. Of the 43 Bills listed for consideration and passage, 32 are Bills pending from previous sessions. As of August 18, 2013, the Rajya Sabha had passed a total of five Bills while the Lok Sabha had passed none. Of the 25 Bills listed for introduction, ten have been introduced so far. The Budget Session of Parliament earlier this year saw the passage of only two Bills, apart from the appropriation Bills, of the 38 listed for passing. These were the Protection of Women Against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill. Time allocated for legislation in the Monsoon Session The Lok Sabha is scheduled to meet for six hours and the Rajya Sabha for five hours every day. Both houses have a question hour and a zero hour at the beginning of the day, which leaves four hours for legislative business in the Lok Sabha and three hours in the Rajya Sabha. However, both Houses can decide to meet for a longer duration. For example, Rajya Sabha has decided to meet till 6:00 PM every day in the Monsoon Session as against the normal working hours of the House until 5:00 PM. The Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of both Houses recommends the time that should be allocated for discussion on each Bill. This session's legislative agenda includes a total of 43 Bills to be passed by Parliament. So far, 30 of the Bills have been allocated time by the BAC, adding up to a total of 78 hours of discussion before passing. If the Lok Sabha was to discuss and debate the 30 Bills for roughly the same time as was recommended by the BAC, it would need a minimum of 20 working days. In addition, extra working days would need to be allocated to discuss and debate the remaining 13 Bills. With eight sitting days left and not a single Bill being passed by the Lok Sabha, it is unclear how the Lok Sabha will be able to make up the time to pass Bills with thorough debate.
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legislative business,
Lok Sabha,
Monsoon session,
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Model Code of Conduct and the 2019 General Elections
Suyash Tiwari - July 10, 2019 Comments
The Finance Minister, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, presented the Union Budget for the financial year 2019-20 in Parliament on July 5, 2019. In the 2019-20 budget, the government presented the estimates of its expenditure and receipts for the year 2019-20. The budget also gave an account of how much money the government raised or spent in 2017-18. In addition, the budget also presented the revised estimates made by the government for the year 2018-19 in comparison to the estimates it had given to Parliament in the previous year’s budget.
What are revised estimates?
Some of the estimates made by the government might change during the course of the year. For instance, once the year gets underway, some ministries may need more funds than what was actually allocated to them in the budget, or the receipts expected from certain sources might change. Such deviations from the budget estimates get reflected in the figures released by the government at later stages as part of the subsequent budgets. Once the year ends, the actual numbers are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), post which they are presented to Parliament with the upcoming budget, i.e. two years after the estimates are made.
For instance, estimates for the year 2018-19 were presented as part of the 2018-19 budget in February 2018. In the 2019-20 interim budget presented in February 2019 (10 months after the financial year 2018-19 got underway), the government revised these estimates based on the actual receipts and expenditure accounted so far during the year and incorporated estimates for the remaining two months.
The actual receipts and expenditure accounts of the central government are maintained by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), Ministry of Finance on a monthly basis. In addition to the monthly accounts, the CGA also publishes the provisional unaudited figures for the financial year by the end of the month of May. Once these provisional figures are audited by the CAG, they are presented as actuals in next year’s budget. The CGA reported the figures for 2018-19 on May 31, 2019.[1] The Economic Survey 2018-19 presented on July 4, 2019 uses these figures.[2]
The budget presented on July 5 replicates the revised estimates reported as part of the interim budget (February 1, 2019). Thus, it did not take into account the updated figures for the year 2018-19 from the CGA.
Table 1 gives a comparison of the 2018-19 revised estimates presented by the central government in the budget with the provisional unaudited figures maintained by the CGA for the year 2018-19.[3]
Table 1: Budget at a Glance: Comparison of 2018-19 revised estimates with CGA figures (unaudited) (Rs crore)
Budgeted
Provisional
(RE 2018-19 to Provisional 2018-19)
Revenue Expenditure
-1,32,149
Total Expenditure
Revenue Receipts
Capital Receipts
of which:
Recoveries of Loans
Other receipts (including disinvestments)
Total Receipts (without borrowings)
Revenue Deficit
Primary Deficit
Sources: Budget at a Glance, Union Budget 2019-20; Controller General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance; PRS.
The 2018-19 provisional figures for revenue receipts is Rs 15,63,170 crore, which is Rs 1,66,512 crore less than the revised estimates. This is largely due to Rs 1,67,455 crore shortfall in centre’s net tax revenue between the revised estimates and the provisional estimates (Table 2).
Major taxes which see a shortfall between the gross tax revenue presented in the revised estimates vis-à-vis the provisional figures are income tax (Rs 67,346 crore) and GST (Rs 59,930 crore). Non-tax revenue and disinvestment receipts as per the provisional figures are higher than the revised estimates.
Table 2: Break up of central government receipts: Comparison of 2018-19 RE with CGA figures (unaudited) (Rs crore)
Gross Tax Revenue
Taxes on Income
Union Excise Duties
A. Centre's Net Tax Revenue
B. Non Tax Revenue
Interest Receipts
Dividend and Profits
Other Non-Tax Revenue
C. Capital Receipts (without borrowings)
Disinvestment
Receipts (without borrowings) (A+B+C)
Borrowings
Total Receipts (including borrowings)
Note: Centre’s net tax revenue is gross tax revenue less share of states in central taxes. Figures for GST include receipts from the GST compensation cess. Note that GST was levied for a nine-month period during the year 2017-18, starting July 2017.
Sources: Receipts Budget, Union Budget 2019-20; Controller General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance; PRS.
While the provisional figures show a considerable decrease in receipts (Rs 1,56,782 crore) as compared to the revised estimates, fiscal deficit has not shown a comparable increase. Fiscal deficit is estimated to be Rs 10,969 crore higher than the revised estimates as per the provisional accounts.
On the expenditure side, the total expenditure as per the provisional figures show a decrease of Rs 1,45,813 crore as compared to the revised estimates. Certain Ministries and expenditure items have seen a decrease in expenditure as compared to the revised estimates made by the government. As per the provisional accounts, the expenditure of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution are Rs 22,133 crore and Rs 70,712 crore lower than the revised estimates, respectively. The decrease in the Ministries’ expenditure as a percentage of the revised estimates are 29% and 39%, respectively. The food subsidy according to CGA was Rs 1,01,904 crore, which was Rs 69,394 crore lower than the revised estimates for the year 2018-19 given in the budget documents.
[1] “Accounts of the Union Government of India (Provisional/Unaudited) for the Financial Year 2018-19”, Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Finance, May 31, 2019.
[2] Fiscal Developments, Economic Survey 2018-19, https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/economicsurvey/doc/vol2chapter/echap02_vol2.pdf.
[3] Controller General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance, March 2018-19, http://www.cga.nic.in/MonthlyReport/Published/3/2018-2019.aspx.
President’s Address 2014-2018: A Status Report
Explainer: The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Bill, 2019
Gayatri Mann and Anya Bharat Ram - July 3, 2019 Comments
The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Bill, 2019 was passed by Parliament today. It replaces an Ordinance that was promulgated in February 2019. The Bill brings about two major changes in reservation of teaching posts in central educational institutions. Firstly, it establishes that for the purpose of reservation, a university/college would be considered as one single unit. This means that posts of the same level across all departments (such as assistant professor) in a university would be grouped together when calculating the total number of reserved seats. Secondly, it extends reservations beyond Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), to include socially and educationally backward classes (OBC) and economically weaker sections (EWS).
In this post, we look at how the Bill will impact the reservation of teaching posts in central educational institutions.
How has teachers’ reservation been implemented in the past?
In 2006, the University Grants Commission (UGC) issued guidelines for teacher reservations in central educational institutions.[1] These guidelines required central educational institutions to consider a university as one unit for the purpose of reservation. It stated that reservations would be calculated using a roster system specified by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pension.[2]
However, the UGC Guidelines (2006) were challenged in the Allahabad High Court in 2017. The question before the Court was whether a university should be taken as a unit when applying the roster.[3] The Court found that individual departments should be taken as a unit for the purpose of reservation, instead of universities. It held that taking a university as a unit could result in some departments having only reserved candidates and others having only unreserved candidates. Following the judgment, departments were treated as a single unit for reservation at central educational institutions.
In March 2019, the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Ordinance, 2019 was promulgated, and passed as a Bill in July 2019. The Bill overturns the Allahabad High Court judgment and reverts to the system where a university is regarded as one unit for the purpose of reservation.
Over the years, there has been deliberation on whether the university or department should be taken as a unit for reservation of teaching posts. This has to do with the manner in which the roster system [4]specified by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pension is applied in both situations.
What was the roster system specified by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pension?
The roster system calculates reservation based on cadre strength. A cadre includes all posts available to be filled within a unit, i.e. either department or university. For instance, all associate professor positions within a university or within a department would be considered a cadre.
At present, the roster system is applied in two ways, i.e., the 13-point system or the 200-point system. For initial recruitment in both systems, all posts in a cadre are numbered and allocated. This means that in a cadre with 18 posts, each post will be assigned a number from 1 to 18 and allocated to a particular category, i.e., either SC, ST, OBC, EWS or unreserved. Therefore, hiring of teachers for all posts takes place on the basis of this list.
However, there are two fundamental differences between the 200 point and 13 point systems.
Cadre size: The 13-point system is applied to cadres with two to 13 posts, and the 200-point roster is applied to cadres with 14 or more posts.
Filling of vacancies: In the 200-point system, once a post is designated as a reserved seat for a specific category (for example, ST), all future vacancies of that post must be filled by a candidate of that category. However, in the 13-point system vacancies are filled in a rotational manner.
When a university is taken as the unit for reservation, the 200-point system is used, as there tend to be more than 13 posts in a university. However, when a department is taken as a unit, the 13-point system or the 200-point system may be used, depending on the size of the department.
How are the number of reserved seats calculated in the roster system?
For both the systems, the number of seats reserved for SC, ST, OBC, and EWS is determined by multiplying the cadre strength with the percentage of reservation prescribed by the Constitution. The percentage of reserved seats for each category is as follows: (i) 7.5% for ST, (ii) 15% for SC, (iii) 27% for OBC, and (iv) 10% for EWS.
If the number of posts needed to be filled is 200, and the percentage of reservation for ST is 7.5%, we would use the following formula to calculate the number of reserved posts for that class:
Number of posts needed to be filled x percentage of reservation/100
= 200 x 7.5/100
Thus, the number of seats reserved for ST in a cadre with the strength of 200 posts is 15. Using the same formula, the number of seats reserved for SC is 30, OBC is 54, and EWS is 20.
How are these reserved seats distributed across posts?
To determine the position of each reserved seat in the roster systems, 100 is divided by the percentage of the reservation for each category. For instance, the OBC quota is 27%. Therefore, 100/27 = 3.7, that is, approximately every 4th post in the cadre list. Likewise, SC is approximately every 7th post, ST is approximately every 14th post, and EWS will be approximately every 10th post.
What is the difference in the application of the roster between the department and university systems?
To demonstrate the difference between the department and university systems, a hypothetical example of a university with 200 posts for associate professors, and nine departments with varying number of posts is provided below.
When the university is taken as a unit
If the university is taken as the unit for reservation, then the total number of posts for the reserved categories would be 119 (i.e., 30 for SC, 15 for ST, 54 for OBC, and 20 for EWS), whereas the number of unreserved (UR) seats would be 81. This is mentioned in Table 1. The method of calculation of these numbers is based on the roster system prescribed by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pension.
Table 1: No. of posts reserved when university is taken as a unit
No. of Reserved Seats
When departments are taken as separate units
If different departments of a university are taken as separate units for reservation, then the total number of posts for the reserved categories would be 101 (i.e., 25 for SC, 9 for ST, 49 for OBC, and 18 for EWS), whereas the number of unreserved (UR) seats would be 99. This is mentioned in Table 2. The method of calculation of these numbers is based on the roster system prescribed by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pension.
Table 2: No. of posts reserved when department is taken as the unit
of posts
Note: Number of posts in each department are hypothetical.
As can be seen in the above example, if departments are taken as separate units, there is a decrease in the number of reserved posts. The number of reserved posts decreased by five for SC, six for ST, five for OBC, and two for EWS. This example is corroborated by the special leave petition filed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in the Supreme Court against the 2017 order of Allahabad High Court. It demonstrates that the number of reserved seats in Banaras Hindu University (BHU) decreased when departments were taken as separate units. The number of reserved posts decreased by 170 for SC, 114 for ST, and 90 for OBC.[5] EWS was not included in the reservation system when the BHU numbers were calculated.
Thus, the trade off between the two systems is as follows. On the one hand, when the university is taken as a unit there is a possibility that some departments would only have reserved candidates and others would have only unreserved candidates. However, when a department is taken as a unit, there is a decrease in the total number of reserved posts within the university.
[1] Circular No. F. 1-5/2006(SCT), University Grants Commission, 2006.
[2] O.M. No. 36012/2/96-Esst. (Res), ‘Reservation Roster- Post based- Implementation of the Supreme Court Judgement in the case of R.K. Sabharwal Vs. State of Punjab, Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pension, July 1997, http://documents.doptcirculars.nic.in/D2/D02adm/36012_2_96_Estt(Res).pdf.
[3] Vivekanand Tiwari v. Union of India, Writ petition no. 43260, Allahabad High Court, April 2017.
[4] O.M. No.36039/1/2019-Estt (Res), ‘Reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWSs) in direct recruitment in civil posts and services in the Government of India’, Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pension, https://dopt.gov.in/sites/default/files/ewsf28fT.PDF.
[5] Special Leave Petition filed in Supreme Court by Ministry of Human Resource Development, January 2019, as reported in Indian Express, https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/simply-put-the-unit-in-teachers-quota-5554261/.
Context to the Supreme Court Order on stressed assets of banks
Indian Railways rationalises freight fares
Explained: The recent rise in petroleum prices
Examining the Consumer Protection Bill, 2018
Amendments to the IBC: Implications for real estate allottees
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Alex Bau´s Wasabi Tunes DVD...the gringotechno issue!
Clubs, Festival, Partys - der Sommerüberblick 2016!
Joseph Capriati’s ‘Self Portrait’ Album Tour is kicking off at Stuttgart’s Club Lehmann
Raphael Dincsoy
With a strong fan base in the back and much support from Italian techno stallion Marco Carola, Joseph Capriati is in high demand. His second album, “Self Portait”, is scheduled to be be out in April 2013 on Drumcode and as the techno scene around his home town Napoli is vibrant and ecstatic, no wonder Joseph is one of the new international shooting stars with Italian roots. We went to have a chat with this ascending DJ and producer, talking about his music, his Ibiza experiences, the album tour and of course, but just a little bit, about Bella Napoli.
Hi Joseph,
thanks for taking time for us. We can imagine that you don’t have much free time at the moment. You are actually working on your next album which is scheduled to be released in spring. Can you already tell us a bit about the it? On which label will it be out? Is it typical Joseph Capriati club sound? It is always a pleasure to speak to Partysan so it is no problem for me to find some time away from the studio to answer your questions. This next release will actually be my second full-length album. The first album, ‘Save My Soul’, was released on a famous Neapolitan record label called Analytic Trail in 2010. This new album will be called ‘Self Portrait’ and will be released on Drumcode in April.
I am not going to spoil the surprise too early but I am sure you will like the new music. It is typical for my sound with some more melodic and tech house elements fused into the more driving techno I make along with a couple of more electronic tracks; definitely all music for people to go crazy to though. For me this is very important.
When did you know that the time is ripe to produce a new album? As I explained, it has been a few years since my last album and I feel that I now have built up enough inspiration to be able to confidently collect together ten or twelve tracks that I am happy to call an album. Since I wrote that last album in late 2009 I have traveled a lot and experienced many amazing parties and different things all around the world.
My life has changed a lot with that of course too and with this comes different feelings and emotions and inspiration. This all has to come out in my musical expression and so the time just felt right for me to take on a bigger project like this where I could take me time to really make the music that I am feeling right now.
2012 is coming to an end. We assume that this year was actually a very busy year for you. You played all around the world and during the summer you had a residency at Marco Carola’s “Music On” night at Amnesia. How was the Ibiza season for you personally? Yes, WOW… 2012 has been a real blur for me. Everything has been moving so fast and so much has happened that it is hard to keep up with it all, even for me! I would say though that the residency for Music On was without a doubt the highlight. I grew up as a fan of Marco Carola back in Napoli and so it was a huge honor for me to be invited to play at his parties, especially as it was the first year he did the concept. He showed a lot of faith in me and for this I have a massive amount of respect and loyalty for Marco and the Music On crew.
Those guys made me feel very much at home and it was a real pleasure to come back to Ibiza for each party. We would often stay for two or three days around the parties so we all became very close friends as well as being part of a successful team that made Music On the biggest story in Ibiza for 2012. Even talking about it all now it still feels like a dream. For me to be a resident for one of the most exciting parties on the biggest party island in the world is a very humbling thought and it fills me with inspiration and motivation to carry on doing what I love.
How did you get in touch with Marco Carola talking about the Music On residency? Was it planned from the beginning that you are one of the residents of the new night? It is funny how it worked out as despite us both being from Napoli I did not really have a personal relationship with Marco before we did the Music On events together. However, we both now live in Barcelona and so when he got in touch to tell me about the Music On events and asked me if I would be interested in playing on a few of the parties we were well placed to get to know each other better and from here the relationship grew.
We originally agreed that I would play on three of the events but in the end I played on five of the events, including the closing party, so I guess you could say that my relationship with Music On grew up during the summer season and I would certainly consider them to be my Ibiza family now.
Apart from Ibiza, which other highlights did you experience in 2012? I could tell you a very long list of parties that have left a big impression on me this year but to keep it to a few really special moments I would have to say that the biggest highlight for me was seeing the reaction to me set at Awakenings Festival in Amsterdam which was just amazing. I played quite early in the afternoon, around 4pm, but the area where I was playing was already packed when I took over from Len Faki. I cannot imagine how many people were there but all I could see looking out from the stage was people going right back as far as you could see. To have that energy coming back at you is something that I cannot describe in words. I just remember smiling and bouncing around the stage. The whole set went by really quickly and I was just filled with so much emotion. It really was the best gig I have played so far in my career.
The other occasion that has stayed with me was right at the other end of the spectrum! I went to South Africa in May to play shows in Johannesburg and Cape Town. This was my second time there and it was just incredible to see how well the techno scene is developing in South Africa and I am very proud to be able to say I have been a part of that process. The traveling is of course one of the big advantages of my job but as amazing as the scenery and the culture and the food was, the most impressive thing about the trip for me was to see the passion and enthusiasm there is for techno amongst the people. I really cannot wait to go back!
I should also mention releasing studio collaborations with two of my all time favorite producers – Adam Beyer and Cari Lekebusch – as this too was a really great moment for me in 2012. I stayed for a few days with Adam at his home in Stockholm last Christmas after we played a Drumcode party at Berns and we made the three tracks which were then released on Drumcode. I love Adam and Drumcode but it was that process of working with Adam in his studio and then releasing the collaboration EP that really made me feel like that I belonged to the label. The remix I did for Cari Lekebusch was of classic track of his called ‘Unity’ from way back. It was a lot of fun to remix a real underground classic and very rewarding to see so many people play the remix, especially guys like Dave Clarke who would have also played the original. There are so many more stories I want to tell you but I guess that will have to wait until another time…
A couple of weeks ago you played Adam Bayer in Roma. The night was sold out and hundreds of “Techno-Tifosi” from Napoli couldn’t get a ticket so they made their own party outside the club. Is that true and does this happen often? Are the Joseph Capriati fans a bit more passionate and more emotional then “normal” techno fans? I really cannot say enough about my fans from Napoli. Everywhere I go I see a lot of the same faces with their Italy flags, always right at the front of the crowd, always there from the start until the very end, always dancing and going crazy. Whether it be in Italy or in Holland or in Spain there are always groups of people from Napoli. They are such an inspiration to me and when things like this happen it really moves me and makes me determined to be better at what I do. I am very grateful to those guys for showing such passion towards me and I look forward to seeing them again at my next gigs.
We can imagine that you really love your hometown – Napoli, very much. How would you describe the city in only 5 words?
Friends, Family, Passion, Techno, and Food!
Are you also interested in football? Is SSC Napoli your team? Or do you have another favorite? This is kind of strange for an Italian guy but I am really not a fan of football. Of course I enjoy watching games sometimes, especially when Italy plays in the World Cup or European Championship and I am with all my friends it is a great occasion that anyone can enjoy but I do not have the passion for the game to be a regular follower of a team. I do though have a Napoli shirt with my name on the back that is framed in my studio! It was given to me as a gift from a fan and so I have put it somewhere special to always remind me of where my heart is and the passion of the people from Napoli.
It seems you like to play long sets, especially in Napoli. Is that kind of a “Thank You” to your hometown fans and local supporters? I love to play long sets! The longer the better! I think the longest I have played for so far is something like 16 hours. This was in South America but is was stretched across a party and an after party and then an after-after party! The gig you have heard about in Napoli will happen in February 2013 at a famous club called Metropolis. I wanted to do something special there for a long time but recently when I have played in Napoli which has not been very often I have played at an amazing outdoor venue called Old River Park or at clubs like Golden Gate for Drumcode events.
For 2013, I wanted to do something special but on my own, not just so I could play for a long time but also so that I could be totally in charge of the music and the vibe of the event. It seems everybody is very excited about the show so I guess the concept has been well received by my fans and I am looking forward to sharing the special occasion with them all.
Back to the album theme. Of course you will do a album tour too. The starting shot is on January 19th, 2013 at Club Lehmann in Stuttgart, Germany. Why you are going to start the tour there and what is your impression of the club and the crowd? The Drumcode showcase last summer was my first time at Club Lehmann but I had heard a lot about it from Alan Fitzpatrick who told me he loves playing there and that the club and the crowd are amongst the very best on the circuit. So I arrived with really high expectations and I am very happy to say that I was not disappointed. For me, like most DJs, the most important thing in a club is the sound and with the amazing system and the shape of the room you get a really powerful, warm sound in the club. This makes it so much more fun to play as you can get the most of the records and really give a strong emotion to the crowd.
The crowd are the next most important thing for a good party as their reaction and energy is what creates the atmosphere. I could tell that everyone in the club was really excited for the event and that they had been looking forward to it for a while. It was also a mid-week show and a public holiday the next day so I guess everyone was really in the party mood! It certainly seemed that way as we didn’t end up leaving the club until late the next morning so I have to say big respect to Stuttgart ravers – they can certainly party hard!
For the tour start in Stuttgart you will also play a extra long set. What may your fans expect? Well, as it is the first date on the tour they will be pretty much the first people to hear all the tracks from my upcoming album so that will be really interesting for me and hopefully exciting for my fans too. As for the long set, well, I love to take people on a journey with the music so expect to hear everything and come prepared for a long night. It will be cold outside in January so best that everybody stays inside the club and parties all night and most of the morning too!
Thank you very much Joseph! Good luck with everything!
Space Ibiza is touring to Australia and opens new venue in Brazil
30.000 People expected for BPM Festival 2013
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Bulls 109 at Warriors 146, Final Jan 18, 2019
Bulls 17 38 21 33 0 109 Final
Warriors 43 33 40 30 0 146 Box
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Preview Recap Boxscore MatchUp
Klay Thompson torches Bulls again in Warriors 146-109 win
By JOSH DUBOW
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Stephen Curry joined some elite company on a list that he figures to top in the not-so-distant future.
Curry made five 3-pointers to move into third place all-time in NBA history behind Ray Allen and Reggie Miller, and the Golden State Warriors rolled past the Chicago Bulls 146-109 on Friday night in their most lopsided win of the season.
Curry moved past Jason Terry with back-to-back 3s early in the third quarter and ended a 28-point night with 2,285 3-pointers in his career, trailing only Allen (2,973) and Miller (2,560). Curry saved the game ball and hopes to get it autographed by Allen and Miller, players he called trendsetters when it comes to long-range shooting.
"Obviously I want to catch them and put together many more years at this pace," Curry said. "But just knowing that those two guys are right in front of me, for sure. I respect the game and I respect what guys have done before and those two guys are guys I've looked up to."
Curry already holds the single-season record of 402 made 3s in 2015-16 and has moved into third place despite playing in more than 600 fewer games than Allen and Miller. It figures to be only a matter of time before the 30-year-old Curry surpasses those two and takes the mark to a whole new level.
"We all know he's going to break the record," teammate Kevin Durant said. "He sets such a high standard and a high bar. It is cool, but he has another season or two until he gets to the No. 1 spot and then he'll shatter that record, so I'll wait for that."
Curry wasn't even the most dangerous long-range shooter on his own team in this game as Klay Thompson picked up where he left off on his record-setting night in Chicago earlier this season by making seven more 3-pointers and scoring 30 points.
Thompson set an NBA mark in the first meeting between the teams on Oct. 29 by hitting 14 3-pointers as part of a 52-point night while playing only the first three quarters. He made three from long range in the first 70 seconds of the rematch and the rout was on.
"That was incredible," coach Steve Kerr said. "Unbelievable start for him. It was a great first quarter, obviously set the tone."
The Warriors took a double-digit lead after just 2:19 and the Bulls never got the game back within single digits. Jonas Jerebko banked in a 3-pointer from beyond half court at the end of the first quarter to give Golden State a 43-17 lead that grew to 44 points in the third quarter.
Durant added 22 for the Warriors, his 15th straight game with at least 20 points.
Zach LaVine scored 29 points to lead the Bulls, who couldn't overcome the poor start and lost their sixth straight game.
"I don't know if we were watching them, in awe fearful," coach Jim Boylen said. "I don't know what it was. We talked about it and I thought we came out in the second quarter and played better. We did respond. But we were just following them around to start the game and that was a little bit too respectful. I am disappointed in that."
Bulls: Chicago had its largest first-quarter deficit in franchise history. ... The Bulls allowed 18 3-pointers and made only nine. They have given up 103 more 3-pointers than they've made this season, the worst differential in the league. ... G Kris Dunn finished with a minus-45 rating. ... G Bobby Portis was on a 28-minute limit in his third game back from an ankle injury, but played less than 17 with the game out of hand early. He scored 16 points.
Warriors: The 26-point lead after the opening quarter was the biggest for the Warriors since they led Sacramento by 30 points on Nov. 2, 1991. ... Thompson's 21 3-pointers in two games vs. Chicago are tied for the most in one season against the Bulls with the 21 made by Antoine Walker in four games in 2001-02. ... Thompson is averaging 27.7 points over his last six games.
Bulls: Visit Utah on Saturday.
Warriors: Visit Dallas on Sunday.
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBAbasketball and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports
Match Up Summary
Scores for Fri, Jan 11
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Home2019March
SESTA/FOSTA: oppression through moral panic
2019-03-31 2019-03-25 pnrj current events, ethics civil liberty, constitution, forced labor, FOSTA, free speech, Internet, law, moral panic, PATRIOT ACT, SESTA, sex, sex trafficking, sex work
Mar 31 JDN 2458574
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
The “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” and “Fight Online Sex Traffickers Act”. Who could disagree with that? Nobody wants to be on the side of sex traffickers.
Beware bills with such one-sided names; they are almost never what they seem. The “USA PATRIOT Act” was one of the most authoritarian and un-American pieces of legislation ever produced.
The bill was originally two bills, SESTA and FOSTA, which were then merged. For the rest of this post I’m just going to call it SESTA for short.
SESTA passed with overwhelming support; the vote totals were 388 to 25 in the House and 97 to 2 in the Senate. Apparently members of Congress fall for that sort of one-sided naming, because they also passed the USA PATRIOT Act 357 to 66 in the House and 98 to 1 in the Senate. This is the easiest way to take away our freedoms: Make it sound like you are doing something obviously good that no sane person could disagree with. If fascism comes to America, it will be called the “Puppies Are Cute Act” and it will pass with overwhelming support.
Of course I’m against sex trafficking. Almost everyone is against sex trafficking. The problem is that SESTA doesn’t actually do much to fight sex trafficking, may in some cases make sex trafficking worse, and sets a precedent that could undermine fundamental civil liberties.
So, what does SESTA actually do? At its core, it changes the way the Internet is regulated. It has been a basic principle of Internet regulation from the beginning that websites aren’t responsible for the actions of their users; unless a site is actively designed for an illegal purpose, the fact that it is used for illegal purposes is not the website’s fault.
This is how we regulate other forms of communication. If a mob boss calls a hit man on the phone, we don’t sue the phone company. If banks exchange emails to collude on manipulating interest rates, we don’t put the email sysadmin in jail. If terrorists send messages through the mail, we don’t arrest the postal workers.
There may be some grey areas, but generally courts have leaned toward greater liberty: The Anarchist’s Cookbook sure looks an awful lot like a means for conducting acts of sabotage and terrorism, but we’re so loathe to ban books that we allow it to be sold.
That is, until now. Because it’s about sex crime, we went into moral panic mode and stopped thinking clearly about the real implications of the policy. We don’t react the same way to gun crime—if we did, we’d have re-instituted the assault weapons ban a decade ago. This is clearly part of our double standard between sex and violence. Sex trafficking is horrible, to be sure; but I think that gun homicides clearly worse. (Yes, it is horrible to be forced into sexual slavery; but would you rather be shot to death?) But we wildly overreact to the former and do basically nothing to stop the latter. And the scale of the two problems is not just comparable, it’s almost identical: About 18,000-20,000 people are trafficked into the US each year for sex, and there were precisely 19,362 homicides in the US last year, of which 14,415 were committed with firearms.
Indeed, why focus specifically on sex trafficking? The majority of forced labor trafficking is not sex. I suppose it seems worse to become a sex slave than to become a slave at a diamond mine or a tobacco plantation… but not that much worse. Not so much worse that the former merits an overwhelming response and the latter barely any response at all.
SESTA breaks the usual principles applied to regulating communication and instead allows the government to penalize websites that are used to facilitate any kind of sale of sexual services.
Note, first of all, that this suddenly changes the topic from sex trafficking to sex work; the vast majority of sex workers are not trafficking victims but voluntary participants. In countries where brothels are legal and regulated, job satisfaction of sex workers is not statistically different from median job satisfaction overall.
Second, the bill doesn’t really do anything to target sex trafficking. It was already illegal to use websites for sex trafficking and already illegal to advertise sex trafficking via the Web. In fact, there is reason to think that pushing sex trafficking further into the Dark Web will only make the job of law enforcement harder.
Part of the liability protections for websites which will now be stripped away included a “right to moderate”: using moderation tools to remove illegal content would not result in additional liability. Under SESTA, this has changed; sites will now want to avoid moderating illegal content, because in so doing they would be effectively admitting that they knew it existed. Since there can never be any guarantee of removing 100% of all illegal content without shutting the entire site down, sites may choose instead to not moderate, so they have more plausible deniability when illegal content is ultimately found.
Instead, the main effect of SESTA will be to put more sex workers in danger. Where previously they could use websites to screen clients, they now have to return to in-person contact that is much more dangerous. It pushes them from the relative security of working indoors and online to the extreme danger of walking the street or working for a pimp. SESTA also removes the opportunity for sex workers to communicate with each other, because now any content related to sex work is banned; and these kinds of communication networks can be literally a matter of life and death.
Make no mistake: People will die over this. Mostly women and queer men (because the vast majority of sex work clients are male). The homicide rate of female victims dropped an astonishing 17 percent when Craigslist iSmplemented its Erotic section that allowed sex workers to use the Internet to screen clients. SESTA is taking that away, so we can expect homicides of female victims to rise.
SESTA is also blatantly Unconstitutional. The original form of the bill included an ex post facto clause, which violates one of the most basic principles of the Constitution.
Even with that removed, SESTA is obviously in violation of the First Amendment; this is censorship. It has already been used to justify Tumblr’s purge of all sexual content, which caused a 20% drop in user base and an exodus of erotic artists and sex workers to other platforms, and will disproportionately harm queer youth because Tumblr had previously been one of the Internet’s safest spaces for exploring sexual identity.
And now that the precedent has been set to hold websites responsible for their users, expect to see more of this. We already see sites being held responsible for copyright infringement; but we could soon see similar laws passed punishing sites for “facilitating” illegal drug use, hacking, or hate speech. Operators of communication platforms will be forced to become arms of law enforcement or face prison themselves.
Of course we all want to stop sex trafficking. Everyone agrees on that. But a bill that targets bad things can still be a bad bill.
The double standard between violence and sex in US media
2019-03-24 2019-03-17 pnrj ethics, public policy art, censorship, film, media, sex, television, video games, violence
The video game Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion infamously had its ESRB rating upgraded from “Teen” to “Mature”, raising the minimum age to purchase it from 13 to 17. Why? Well, they gave two major reasons: One was that there was more blood and detailed depictions of death than in the original version submitted for review. The other was that a modder had made it possible to view the female characters with naked breasts.
These were considered comparable arguments—if anything, the latter seemed to carry more weight.
Yet first of all this was a mod: You can make a mod do just about anything. (Indeed, there has long since been a mod for Oblivion that shows full-frontal nudity; had this existed when the rating was upgraded, they might have gone all the way to “Adults Only”, ostensibly only raising the minimum age to 18, but in practice making stores unwilling to carry the game because they think of it as porn.)
But suppose in fact that the game had included female characters with naked breasts. Uh… so what? Why is that considered so inappropriate for teenagers? Men are allowed to walk around topless all the time, and male and female nipples really don’t look all that different!
Now, I actually think “Mature” is the right rating for Oblivion. But that’s because Oblivion is about a genocidal war against demons and involves mass slaughter and gruesome death at every turn—not because you can enable a mod to see boobs.
The game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas went through a similar rating upgrade, from “Mature” to “Adults Only”—resulting it being the only mass-market “Adults Only” game in the US. This was, again, because of a mod—though in this case it was more like re-enabling content that the original game had included but disabled. But let me remind you that this is a game where you play as a gangster whose job is to steal cars, and who routinely guns down police officers and massacres civilians—and the thing that really upset people was that you could enable a scene where your character has sex with his girlfriend.
Meanwhile, games like Manhunt, where the object of the game is to brutally execute people, and the Call of Duty series graphically depicting the horrors of war (and in the Black Ops subseries, espionage, terrorism, and torture), all get to keep their “Mature” ratings.
And consider that a game like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, rated “Everyone 10+”, contains quite a lot of violence, and several scenes where, logically, it really seems like there should be nudity—bathing, emerging from a cryonic stasis chamber, a doctor examining your body for wounds—but there isn’t. Meanwhile, a key part of the game is killing goblin-like monsters to collect their organs and use them for making potions. It’s all tastefully depicted violence, with little blood and gore; okay, sure. But you can tastefully depict nudity as well. Why are we so uncomfortable with the possibility of seeing these young adult characters naked… while bathing? In this case, even a third-party mod that allowed nudity was itself censored, on the grounds that it would depict “underage characters”; but really, no indication is given that these characters are underage. Based on their role in society, I always read them as about 19 or 20. I guess they could conceivably be as young as 16… and as we all know, 16-year-olds do not have genitals, are never naked, and certainly never have sex.
We’re so accustomed to this that it may even feel uncomfortable to you when I suggest otherwise: “Why would you want to see Link’s penis as he emerges from the cryonic chamber?” Well, I guess, because… men have penises. (Well, cis men anyway; actually it would be really bold and interesting if they decided to make Link trans.) We should see that as normal, and not be so uncomfortable showing it. The emotional power of the scene comes in part from the innocence and vulnerability of nudity, which is undercut by you mysteriously coming with non-removable indestructible underwear. Part of what makes Breath of the Wild so, er, breathtaking is that you can often screenshot it and feel like you are looking at a painting—and I probably don’t need to mention that nudity has been a part of fine art since time immemorial. Letting you take off the protagonist’s underwear wouldn’t show anything you can’t see by looking at Michelangelo’s David.
And would it really be so traumatizing to the audience to see that? By the time you’re 10 years old, I hope you have seen at least one picture of a penis. If not, we’ve been doing sex ed very, very wrong. In fact, I’m quite confident that most of the children playing would not be disturbed at all; amused, perhaps, but what’s wrong with that? If looking at the protagonist’s cel-shaded genitals makes some of the players giggle, does that cause any harm? Some people play through Breath of the Wild without ever equipping clothing, both as a challenge (you get no armor protection that way), and simply for fun (some of the characters do actually react to you being “naked”, or as naked as the game will allow—and most of their reactions would make way more sense if you weren’t wearing magical underwear).
Of course, it’s not just video games. The United States has a bizarre double standard between sex and violence in all sorts of media.
On television, you can watch The Walking Dead on mainstream cable and see, as Andrew Boschert put it, “a man’s skull being smashed with a hammer, people’s throats slit into a trough, a meat locker with people’s torsos and limbs hung by hooks and a man’s face being eaten off while he is still alive”; but show a single erect penis, and you have to go to premium channels.
Even children’s television is full of astonishing levels of violence. Watch Tom and Jerry sometime, and you’ll realize that the only difference between it and the Simpsons parody Itchy & Scratchy is that the Simpsons version is a bit more realistic in depicting how such violence would affect the body. In mainstream cartoons, characters can get shot, blown up, crushed by heavy objects, run over by trains, hit with baseball bats and frying pans—but God forbid you ever show a boob.
In film, the documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated shows convincingly that not only are our standards for sexual content versus violent content wildly disproportionate, furthermore any depiction of queer sexual content is immediately considered pornographic while the equivalent heterosexual content is not. It’s really quite striking to watch: They show scenes with the exact same sex act, even from more or less the same camera angles, and when it’s a man and a woman, it gets R, but if it’s two men or two women, it gets NC-17.
The movie Thirteen is rated R for its depiction of drugs and sex, despite being based on a true story about actual thirteen-year-olds. Evan Rachel Wood was 15 at the time of filming and 16 at the time of release, meaning that she was two years older than the character she played, and yet a year later still not old enough to watch her own movie without parental permission. Granted, Thirteen is not a wholesome film; there’s a lot of disturbing stuff in it, including things done by (and to) teenagers that really shouldn’t be.
But it’s not as if violence, even against teenagers, is viewed as so dangerous for young minds. Look at the Hunger Games, for example; that is an absolutely horrific level of violence against teenagers—people get beheaded, blown up, burned, and mutilated—and it only received a PG-13 rating. The Dark Knight received only a PG-13 rating, despite being about a terrorist who murders hundreds and implants a bomb in one of his henchmen (and also implements the most literal and unethical Prisoner’s Dilemma experiment ever devised).
Novels are better about this sort of thing: You actually can have sex scenes in mainstream novels without everyone freaking out. Yet there’s still a subtler double standard: You can’t show too much detail in a sex scene, or you’ll be branded “erotica”. But there’s no special genre ghetto you get sent to for too graphically depicting torture or war. (I love the Culture novels, but honestly I think Use of Weapons should come with trigger warnings—it’s brutal.) And as I have personally struggled with, it’s very hard to write fiction honestly depicting queer characters without your whole book being labeled “queer fiction”.
Is it like this in other countries? Well, like most things, it depends on the country. In China and much of the Middle East, the government has control over almost every sort of content. Most countries have some things they censor and some things they don’t. The US is unusual: We censor very little. Content involvingviolence and political content are essentially unrestricted in the US. But sex is one of the few things that we do consistently censor.
Media in Europe especially is much more willing to depict sex, and a bit less willing to depict violence. This is particularly true in the Netherlands, where there are films rated R for sex in the US but 6 (that’s “minimum age of viewing, 6 years”) in the Netherlands, because we consider naked female breasts to be a deal-breaker and they consider them utterly harmless. Quite frankly, I’m much more inclined toward the latter assessment.
Japan has had a long tradition of sexuality in art and media, and only when the West came in did they start introducing censorship. But Japan is not known for its half-measures; in 1907 they instituted a ban on explicit depiction of genitals that applies to essentially all media—even media explicitly marketed as porn still fuzzes over keys parts of the images. Yet some are still resisting this censorship: A ban on sexual content in manga drew outrage from artists as recently as 2010.
Hinduism has always been more open to sexuality than Christianity, and it shows in Indian culture in various ways. The Kama Sutra is depicted in the West as a lurid sex manual, when it’s really more of a text on living a full life, finding love, and achieving spiritual transcendence (of which sex is often a major part). But like Japan, India began to censor sex as it began to adopt Western cultural influences, and now implements a very broad pornography ban.
What does this double standard do to our society?
Well, it’s very hard to separate causation from correlation. So I can’t really say that it is because of this double standard in media that we have the highest rates of teen pregnancy and homicide in the First World. But it seems like it might be related, at least; perhaps they come from a common source, the same sexual repression and valorization of masculinity expressed through violence.
I do know some things that are direct negative consequences of the censorship of sex in US media. The most urgent example of this is the so-called “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” (it does more or less the exact opposite, much like the “PATRIOT ACT” and George W. Bush’s “Clean Air Act”). That will have to wait until next week’s post.
Stop calling it “piracy”
2019-03-17 2019-03-10 pnrj Uncategorized
It’s a bit of a pet peeve, but much like I insist people use “net wealth” instead of “net worth” (people are not worth more because they have more money!), I find it aggravating that the standard term for copyright infringement for personal use is “piracy”.
The word “piracy” is meant to describe some very severe crimes: Pirates on the high seas board ships to rape, enslave, and murder people. There are still actual pirates today, and they are murderous psychopaths. We glamorize pirates in much the same was as we glamorize organized crime; but the reality of actual piracy is horrific, monstrous violence. This is nothing like the “piracy” of copying songs and video games without permission.
If you need a word for copying songs and video games without permission, how about “unauthorized copying”? That’s what it is. You haven’t stolen anything. You’re not a pirate. You’ve copied something without authorization.
This can still be a harmful thing to do, and there are some cases where I think we rightfully make it illegal. But just from hearing the phrase “unauthorized copying” you can feel the difference: It already sounds like something that isn’t usually so bad and maybe shouldn’t always be against the law.
Indeed, it’s difficult to see exactly where the harm from most unauthorized copying is supposed to be. Even on the RIAA’s inflated estimates assuming that everyone who makes unauthorized copies would have otherwise purchased at retail price (which is clearly not true), total loss to the US music industry from unauthorized copying is less than $3 billion per year, while the total revenue of the music industry in the US is over $22 billion. So we’re talking about a roughly 12% reduction in revenue—and remember that this is an overestimate, because most of the people who make unauthorized copies would not have purchased the music at full price if they didn’t make the copies.
And most of those losses are to the very richest music producers, who are astonishingly rich indeed. The top 9 richest music producers in the US all have net wealth exceeding $100 million. It’s hard for me to see a 12% reduction in revenue for these nine-figure millionaires as a major loss to our society.
It might be a major loss to our society if weaker intellectual property enforcement had a chilling effect on the production of new content. And there is some reason to think that this could happen: Artists make their living selling content, and if that content can be copied for free it will be harder for them to make a living.
But it’s already really hard for most artists to make a living, and they make art anyway. There is no shortage of creative content in the world; indeed, there is an embarrassment of riches that makes it hard for new artists to break in and sometimes even hard for consumers to find the best content. If the goal is actually to support artists, there are obviously much better methods than granting Disney and Viacom totalitarian control over everything we read, hear, and see.
For instance, there are alternative modes of income support for artists that don’t require intellectual property enforcement, such as Patreon and Kickstarter. I make money on this very blog (not a lot mind you, but some extra spending cash) using Patreon without enforcing intellectual property. I’m not sure I could enforce intellectual property on my blog even if I tried.
A universal basic income is another option: Artists mostly create art because they want to, and only need to sell it because, like all humans, they have certain needs for food and shelter that must be met. With a sufficiently generous basic income, I think many artists would choose to share their work for free and live off the basic income, because it was never about making money but about creating art and spreading joy.
Or we could continue to enforce copyright, but in a much more limited manner: Say you get 30 years after publication, and whether or not your work has earned out by then, it goes to public domain and people can do whatever they want with it. Copy it, modify it, turn it into derivative works—yes, even make fanfiction and rule 34 porn, because that’s a form of artistic creation too.
I couldn’t find good data on this, but my suspicion is that most artistic works don’t turn a profit at all, and those that turn a profit generally do so within the first few years. Even if they paid out at a constant nominal rate, at any reasonable interest rate only about the first 30 years would really matter: At 7%, the net present value of $10,000 a year for 30 years is $124,000, while the net present value of $10,000 a year forever is only $143,000. This is because funds received in early years could be invested for that whole time (or used for something urgent and valuable), while funds received later can’t. There’s an old joke that may help you to remember that: “For $50, I’ll give you a million dollars! Such a deal! Oh, by the way, it’s $1 per year for the next million years.”
Extending copyright for decades simply doesn’t make sense if the goal is to support artists. (It makes perfect sense if the goal is to make Disney lobbyists happy.) Continuing to pay royalties for something you made 70 years ago may make you happy, but it wasn’t the incentive to produce that thing in the first place. I have trouble imagining an artist who would be willing to create a work if they received 70 years of royalties, but not if they only received 30 years of royalties.
In fact, economists studying copyright have estimated that the optimal duration of copyright to maximize creative innovation is even shorter than that: Only 15 years. There are a number of reasons for this, but perhaps the most important is that copyright can actually hinder some creativity, by making it harder to build off of the previous work of others. It’s one thing if all you have to do is re-name some characters in a novel and make a few other cosmetic changes (like Fifty Shades of Grey did; it was originally Twilight fanfiction); but that wouldn’t be so simple for a music remix or a video game mod. Depending on how the corporation that owns the original IP reacts, even a mod that looks and plays completely different could land you in court, because it was built on the same engine. There’s a great deal of ambiguity about just what constitutes a copyright violation in game modding.
And if we’re also thinking about patents as well as copyrights, intellectual property protection is the main cause of the high cost of brand-name drugs: People die because of that patent enforcement.
But there are complicated questions here about the proper way to balance the incentives. I think it would help to make the language clearer and less loaded: Don’t say “piracy”. Say “unauthorized copying”.
Defending yourself defends others
2019-03-10 2019-03-03 pnrj ethics crime, externalities, feminism, grant theft auto, public goods, self-defense, violence
There’s a meme going around the feminist community that is very well-intentioned, but dangerously misguided. I first encountered it as a tweet, though it may have originated elsewhere:
If you’re promoting changes to women’s behaviour to “prevent” rape, you’re really saying “make sure he rapes the other girl”.
The good intention here is that we need to stop blaming victims. Victim-blaming is ubiquitous, and especially common and harmful in the case of sexual assault. If someone assaults you—or robs you, or abuses you—it is never your fault.
But I fear that there is a baby being thrown out with this bathwater: While failing to defend yourself doesn’t make it your fault, being able to defend yourself can still make you safer.
And, just as importantly, it can make others safer too. The game theory behind that is the subject of this post.
For purposes of the theory, it doesn’t matter what the crime is. So let’s set aside the intense emotional implications of sexual assault and suppose the crime is grand theft auto.
Some cars are defended—they have a LoJack system installed that will allow them to be recovered and the thieves to be prosecuted. (Don’t suppose it’s a car alarm; those don’t work.)
Other cars are not defended—once stolen, they may not be recovered.
There are two cases to consider: Defense that is visible, and defense that is invisible.
Let’s start by assuming that the defense is visible: When choosing which car to try to steal, the thieves can intentionally pick one that doesn’t have a LoJack installed. (This doesn’t work well for car theft, but it’s worth considering for the general question of self-defense. The kind of clothes you wear, the way you carry yourself, how many people are with you, and overall just how big and strong you look are visible signs of a capacity for self-defense.)
In that case, the game is one of perfect information: First each car owner chooses whether or not to install a LoJack at some cost L (in real life, about $700), and then thieves see which cars are equipped and then choose which car to steal.
Let’s say the probability of a car theft being recovered and prosecuted if it’s defended is p, and the probability of it being recovered if it’s not defended is q; p > q. In the real world, about half of stolen cars are recovered—but over 90% of LoJack-equipped vehicles are recovered, so p = 0.9 and q = 0.5.
Then let’s say the cost of being caught and prosecuted is C. This is presumably quite high: If you get convicted, you could spend time in prison. But maybe the car will be recovered and the thief won’t be convicted. Let’s ballpark that at about $30,000.
Finally, the value of successfully stealing a car is V. The average price of a used car in the US is about $20,000, so V is probably close to that.
If no cars are defended, what will the thieves choose? Assuming they are risk-neutral (car thieves don’t seem like very risk averse folks, in general), the expected benefit of stealing a car is V – q C. With the parameters above, that’s (20000)-(0.5)(30000) = $5,000. The thieves will choose a car at random and steal it.
If some cars are defended and some are not, what will the thieves choose? They will avoid the defended cars and steal one of the undefended cars.
But what if all cars are defended? Now the expected benefit is V – p C, which is (20000)-(0.9)(30000) = -$7,000. The thieves will not steal any cars at all. (This is actually the unique subgame-perfect equilibrium: Everyone installs a LoJack and no cars get stolen. Of course, that assumes perfect rationality.)
Yet that isn’t so impressive; everyone defending themselves results in everyone being defended? That sounds tautological. Expecting everyone to successfully defend themselves all the time sounds quite unreasonable. This might be what people have in mind when they say things like the quote above: It’s impossible for everyone to be defended always.
But it turns out that we don’t actually need that. Things get a lot more interesting when we assume that self-defense can be invisible. It would be very hard to know whether a car has a LoJack installed without actually opening it up, and there are many other ways to defend yourself that are not so visible—such as knowing techniques of martial arts or using a self-defense phone app.
Now the game has imperfect information. The thieves don’t know whether you have chosen to defend your car or not.
We need to add a couple more parameters. First is the number of cars per thief n. Then we need the proportion of cars that are defended. Let’s call it d. Then with probability d a given car is defended, and with probability 1-d it is not.
The expected value of stealing a car for the thieves is now this: V – p d C – q (1-d) C. If this is positive, they will steal a car; if it is negative, they will not.
Knowing this, should you install a LoJack? Remember that it costs you L to do so.
What’s the probability your car will be stolen? If they are stealing cars at all, the probability of your car being one stolen is 1/n. If that happens, you will have an expected loss of (1-p)V if you have a LoJack, or (1-q)V if you don’t. The difference between those is (p-q)V.
So your expected benefit of having a LoJack is (p-q)V/n – L. With the parameters above, that comes to: (0.9-0.5)(20000)/n – (700) = 8000/n – 700. So if there are no more than 11 cars per thief, this is positive and you should buy a LoJack. If there are 12 or more cars per thief, you’re better off taking your chances.
This only applies if the thieves are willing to steal at all. And then the interesting question is whether V – p d C – q (1-d) C is positive. For these parameters, that’s (20000) – (0.9)(30000)d – (0.5)(30000) + (0.5)(30000)d = 5000 – 12000 d. Notice that if we substitute in d=0 we get back $5,000, and at d=1 we get back -$7,000, just as before. There is a critical value of d at which the thieves aren’t sure whether to try or not: d* = 5/12 = 0.42.
Assuming that a given car is worth defending if it would be stolen (n <= 11), the equilibrium is actually when precisely d* of the cars are defended and 1-d* are not. Any less than this, and there is an undefended car that would be worth defending. Any more than this, and the thieves aren’t going to try to steal anything, so why bother defending?
Of course this is a very stylized model: In particular, we assumed that all cars are equally valuable and equally easy to steal, which is surely not true in real life.
Yet this model is still enough to make the most important point: Since presumably we do not value the welfare of the car thieves, it could happen that people choosing on their own would not defend their cars, but society as a whole would be better off if they did.
The net loss to society from a stolen car is (1-q)V if the car was not defended, or (1-p)V if it was. But if the thieves don’t steal any cars at all, the net loss to society is zero. The cost of defending a proportion d* of all cars is n d* L.
So if we are currently at d = 0, society is currently losing (1-q)V. We could eliminate this cost entirely by paying n d* L to defend a sufficient number of cars. Suppose n = 30. Then this total cost is (30)(5/12)(700) = $8,750. The loss from cars being stolen was (0.5)(20000) = $10,000. So it would be worth it, from society’s perspective, to randomly install LoJack systems in 42% of cars.
But for any given car owner, it would not be worth it; the expected benefit is 8000/30 – 700 = -$433. (I guess we could ask how much you’re willing to pay for “peace of mind”.)
Where does the extra benefit go? To all the other car owners. By defending your car, you are raising d and thereby lowering the expected payoff for a car thief. There is a positive externality; this is a public good. You get some of that benefit yourself, but others also share in that benefit.
This brings me at last to the core message of this post:
Self-defense is a public good.
The better each person defends themselves, the riskier it becomes for criminals to try to victimize anyone. Never feel guilty for trying to defend yourself; you are defending everyone else at the same time. In fact, you should consider taking actions to defend yourself even when you aren’t sure it’s worth it for you personally: That positive externality may be large enough to make your actions worthwhile for society as a whole.
Again, this does not mean we should blame victims when they are unable to defend themselves. Self-defense is easier for some people than others, and everyone is bound to slip up on occasion. (Also, eternal vigilance can quickly shade over into paranoia.) It is always the perpetrator’s fault.
How do you change a paradigm?
2019-03-03 2019-02-24 pnrj core principles, critique of neoclassical economics, current events, personal Akerlof, conference, empiricism, experiment, Institute for New Economic Thinking, Marxism, Young Scholars Initiative
Mar 3 JDN 2458546
I recently attended the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) Young Scholars Initiative (YSI) North American Regional Convening (what a mouthful!). I didn’t present, so I couldn’t get funding for a hotel, so I commuted to LA each day. That was miserable; if I ever go again, it will be with funding.
The highlight of the conference was George Akerlof‘s keynote, which I knew would be the case from the start. The swag bag labeled “Rebel Without a Paradigm” was also pretty great (though not as great as the “Totes Bi” totes at the Human Rights Council Time to THRIVE conference).
The rest of the conference was… a bit strange, to be honest. They had a lot of slightly cheesy interactive activities and exhibits; the conference was targeted at grad students, but some of these would have drawn groans from my more jaded undergrads (and “jaded grad student” is a redundancy). The poster session was pathetically small; I think there were literally only three posters. (Had I known in time for the deadline, I could surely have submitted a poster.)
The theme of the conference was challenging the neoclassical paradigm. This was really the only unifying principle. So we had quite an eclectic mix of presenters: There were a few behavioral economists (like Akerlof himself), and some econophysicists and complexity theorists, but mostly the conference was filled with a wide variety of heterodox theorists, ranging all the way from Austrian to Marxist. Also sprinkled in were a few outright cranks, whose ideas were just total nonsense; fortunately these were relatively rare.
And what really struck me about listening to the heterodox theorists was how mainstream it made me feel. I went to a session on development economics, expecting randomized controlled trials of basic income and maybe some political economy game theory, and instead saw several presentations of neo-Marxist postcolonial theory. At the AEA conference I felt like a radical firebrand; at the YSI conference I felt like a holdout of the ancien regime. Is this what it feels like to push the envelope without leaping outside it?
The whole atmosphere of the conference was one of “Why won’t they listen to us!?” and I couldn’t help but feel like I kind of knew why. All this heterodox theory isn’t testable. It isn’t useful. It doesn’t solve the problem. Even if you are entirely correct that Latin America is poor because of colonial and neocolonial exploitation by the West (and I’m fairly certain that you’re not; standard of living under the Mexica wasn’t so great you know), that doesn’t tell me how to feed starving children in Nicaragua.
Indeed, I think it’s notable that the one Nobel Laureate they could find to speak for us was a behavioral economist. Behavioral economics has actually managed to penetrate into the mainstream somewhat. Not enough, not nearly quickly enough, to be sure—but it’s happening. Why is it happening? Because behavioral economics is testable, it’s useful, and it solves problems.
Indeed, behavioral economics is more testable than most neoclassical economics: We run lab experiments while they’re adding yet another friction or shock to the never-ending DSGE quagmire.
And we’ve already managed to solve some real policy problems this way, like Alvin Roth’s kidney matching system and Richard Thaler’s “Save More Tomorrow” program.
The (limited) success of behavioral economics came not because we continued to batter at the gates of the old paradigm demanding to be let in, but because we tied ourselves to the methodology of hard science and gathered irrefutable empirical data. We didn’t get as far as we have by complaining that economics is too much like physics; we actually made it more like physics. Physicists do experiments. They make sharp, testable predictions. They refute their hypotheses. And now, so do we.
That said, Akerlof was right when he pointed out that the insistence upon empirical precision has limited the scope of questions we are able to ask, and kept us from addressing some of the really vital economic problems in the world. And neoclassical theory is too narrow; in particular, the ongoing insistence that behavior must be modeled as perfectly rational and completely selfish is infuriating. That model has clearly failed at this point, and it’s time for something new.
So I do think there is some space for heterodox theory in economics. But there actually seems to be no shortage of heterodox theory; it’s easy to come up with ideas that are different from the mainstream. What we actually need is more ways to constrain theory with empirical evidence. The goal must be to have theory that actually predicts and explains the world better than neoclassical theory does—and that’s a higher bar than you might imagine. Neoclassical theory isn’t an abject failure; in fact, if we’d just followed the standard Keynesian models in the Great Recession, we would have recovered much faster. Most of this neo-Marxist theory struck me as not even wrong: the ideas were flexible enough that almost any observed outcome could be fit into them.
Galileo and Einstein didn’t just come up with new ideas and complain that no one listened to them. They developed detailed, mathematically precise models that could be experimentally tested—and when they were tested, they worked better than the old theory. That is the way to change a paradigm: Replace it with one that you can prove is better.
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A 30 000 MW Wind Farm in Canada ?
Posted by Big Gav
WorldChanging has an article on a plan to build a 30 GW wind farm in Canada - which is the sort of thing we need to see more of. Will the Canadians soon be the major suppliers of oil, uranium and electricity to the US ? If they aren't careful they'll end up on some sort of Axis of Evil list...
Gilbert Parent, recently retired from political life in Canada, has proposed building a 30 GW wind farm in the country's northern regions. That's roughly the current power generation capacity of Ontario (home to about 40% of Canada's population of 32 million).
Although Canada has benefited from abundant hydroelectric resources, it is still heavily reliant on fossil fuels and nuclear energy for electricity generation. And yet it has many areas with respectable wind velocities, as shown in Canada's Wind Atlas.
As with Germany and Denmark, the potential exists to meet a large proportion of energy needs from wind power, and to serve as a positive example to others by scaling up wind farms. Of course, small-scale and community-owned wind projects may be just as important as megaprojects in the future smart grid energy mix, particularly in developing solutions suitable for use in isolated places and harsh climates such as circumpolar Arctic regions. But there's nothing like some good old-fashioned macro-engineering to fire up the imagination, especially when it's clean and green.
Continuing on matters atmospheric, RealClimate looks at a Q&A on global warming in the Seattle Times.
There was an interesting piece that appeared in the October 12 edition of the Seattle Times, "Q&A: Global warming — a world of evidence". This follows up on a previous article by journalist Sandi Doughton in the October 9 issue of the Times, "The Truth About Global Warming".
In the Q&A, a group of University of Washington scientists, including atmospheric scientist and climate researcher J. Mike Wallace, weigh in with answers to questions fielded from the paper's readers. Many of the questions, such as "Isn't it true that scientists in the 1970s said the earth was cooling?" are quite similar to those we've addressed here at RealClimate (see "The Global Cooling Myth").
Wallace's perspectives are particularly interesting because he is both a highly respected climate researcher (and National Academy of Sciences member) and, like a number of other long-time researchers in the field, was once a "skeptic" (in the best sense of the word) regarding the evidence for anthropogenic climate change. However, like many other such researchers, he has become convinced by the compelling weight of evidence indicating human influence on climate that has unfolded over the past decade, remarking that "with each passing year the evidence has gotten stronger — and is getting stronger still."
Back at WorldChanging, they note that as climate modelling improves in precision and maturity, things are looking worse rather than better.
A new set of model results from Purdue University give us a foreshadowing of what the effects of global warming-induced climate disruption will be on the nation that currently puts the most greenhouse gases into the air: the United States.
In an article to be published later this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, geophysicist Noah Diffenbaugh and colleagues Jeremy S. Pal, Robert J. Trapp and Filippo Giorgi discuss the results of a five-month supercomputer simulation of global warming across North America over this century. This simulation exercise ranks as one of the most sophisticated ever run; the model was able to consider effects on individual regions 25 kilometers square, down from 50 square kilometers used in previous models.
It's something of an article of faith among the remaining holdouts denying the existence of global warming that computerized climate models, as they abstract aspects of the climate, are essentially useless -- and (implicitly) if they had more details, they'd show that all was right with the world. Unfortunately, as our modeling methods and technologies have gotten better, quite the opposite has occurred. These days, reports from computer models are apt to show that things are worse than we thought, climate-wise.
Climate news is all the rage at WorldChanging this week - they also have a short note on an ABC radio show on "Australian Business and Climate Change".
ABC's running a pretty good radio bit on climate change and how Australia's businesses are grappling with its impacts. It's not as wide-ranging as Businesses Take on Climate Change or some of our other previous coverage on business and global warming, for that matter, but it's still a really good round-up on the issue. If you're following the ways in which the business repsonse to climate is unfolding, this is well worth your time:
"In what to me is an astonishingly short time, five years or less, climate change has morphed from what was seen to be the province of pointy-headed scientists and environmental Cassandras to the point where ... in the Carbon Disclosure Project we have over $21 trillion worth of investors at least paying lip service to being concerned about the phenomenon..."
One last post from WorldChanging, this time on African efforts to adapt their farming practices to cope with global warming and soil erosion.
It reads like a story from decades past: experts are trying to get African farmers to change their farming practices. But this time, the experts are also from Africa, and the modest changes they suggest are to encourage the conservation of quality soil and water. But while the changes may be modest, they hint at a much more dramatic question: how long can traditional farming methods withstand an era of climate disruption?
The African Conservation Tillage Network, based in Zimbabwe, is assembling a manual on "conservation agriculture," a set of agricultural practices based on the specific needs of farmers in Africa, intended to reduce erosion and to save water. ACTN has pilot projects underway in Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Ghana and Zambia, all trying to implement conservation and sustainability-focused agricultural practices. In each location, the overall model of "conservation tillage" is adapted to particular regional needs. The manual, which is still in preparation, provides an overview of the desired practices...
Finally, MIT Technology Review has a look at the latest advances in polymer photovoltaics (which WorldChanging has posted on frequently, but its nice to have some diversity in commentary).
Plastic solar cells can't yet compete with conventional silicon photovoltaics for efficiently producing large-scale power. But they've become good enough that at least one company, Lowell, MA-based Konarka, has moved past the proof-of-concept phase and is putting them into products.
The Army, Air Force, and Textronics, a company based in Wilmington, DE, are now incorporating Konarka's cells into the structures of tents for powering computers and the fabric of handbags for charging cell-phone and laptop batteries.
Konarka's solar cells are printed or coated on rolls of plastic -- much like photographic film. Tiny particles embedded in the film then absorb light and spit out electrons, which are transported by an electrolyte and harvested by electrodes.
So far, the company has demonstrated that its cells can charge cell-phone batteries, extending talking time, or even eliminating the need to plug into an outlet -- assuming one lives somewhere like Phoenix and isn't addicted to the device.
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The Austrian government for the first time headed woman
For the first time in Austrian history a woman became temporary Chancellor of the Republic before the elections to the lower house of Parliament.
First post of Chancellor of Austria was held by a woman. To them became 69-year-old Chairman of the constitutional court, Brigitte Bierlein. She will hold the position of Chancellor until the early elections to the national Council. This was after consultations with party leaders on 30 may, the President said Alexander van der Bellen, writes the Chronicle.info with reference to korrespondent.net.
“I authorize the mistress of the President to form a new government. It will be the first Chancellor of the Austrian Republic. I am pleased to present the Brigitte Bierlein”, — he said.
We will remind, earlier in Austria for the first time declared a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz. Ekstrennogo the convening of a session of Parliament was the result of a government crisis in Austria.
Following the vote, called early elections in September and began forming a provisional government.
The EU said the only option for Brexit
A little later the Vice-Chancellor Hartwig Legera became temporary Chancellor of Austria before the forthcoming parliamentary elections and for several days he supervised the Cabinet.
In the U.S. there was a large-scale skirmish, there are victims. Video
In Kirovograd filmed running wild elk. Video
There were shots of a powerful explosion at the plant in Russia. Video
A resident of Vietnam poured acid the offended groom
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The Reeth Artyfacts
In 2006 the original script of a 1940s village pantomime Beauty and the Beast surfaced in a bundle of old papers saved from a bonfire and given to the Swaledale Museum. To raise funds for the Museum a group of volunteers came together to re-stage the pantomime that Christmas in the Memorial Hall…and the Artyfacts were born.
Several years, pantomimes and revues later they are still performing in and around Reeth, putting on a range of variety shows and small charity concerts for good causes.
If you would like to join this enthusiastic group of amateur actors, singers, dancers and musicians contact Harriet Manning email: harrietjmanning@gmail.com
Blood on Canvas
Written by Richard James, Blood on Canvas is a tense one act thriller. When art collector Crispin Armstrong meets artist Marilyn Stone at a private viewing, a sinister sequence of events leaves them both uneasy. Sometimes, you never know who you can trust ...
Blood on Canvas was performed at Reeth Memorial Hall in May and June 2019.
'Mr Hunter'
In February 2018 the group returned to the original collection of papers to present a one act thriller, Mr Hunter, by Stuart Ready, first performed in the dale in the late 1940s and marking the directorial debut of Finlay Worrallo from Low Row.
In the winter of 1948, heading home after a long tour, a small theatrical troupe find themselves stranded at an unfamiliar railway station. Mr Hunter, the man who agreed to help them out, is nowhere to be found. As they reflect on the recent mysterious death of their leading lady, and as no-one comes to their aid, the women become uneasy. As Doris warns her fellow travellers: “To spend the night in a place like this is asking for trouble”!
Whisky Galore!
The Swaledale Artyfacts were the first amateur dramatic company in the country to obtain the rights to perform Stewart Howson’s adaptation of the much loved novel by Compton Mackenzie, putting on four performances at Easter 2015
Not willing to be outdone by the performers, the refreshments sales team took up the Scottish theme with a vengeance!
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Justia Regulation Tracker Department Of Transportation Surface Transportation Board CSX Transportation, Inc.-Abandonment Exemption-in Allegheny County, Pa.; Allegheny Valley Railroad Company-Discontinuance Exemption-in Allegheny County, Pa., 33115 [2019-14747]
CSX Transportation, Inc.-Abandonment Exemption-in Allegheny County, Pa.; Allegheny Valley Railroad Company-Discontinuance Exemption-in Allegheny County, Pa., 33115 [2019-14747]
Download as PDF Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 133 / Thursday, July 11, 2019 / Notices dependent businesses, thereby encouraging the long-term, continued use, growth, and preservation of rail operations in the region. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is participating as a cooperating agency in the preparation of this DSEA pursuant to CEQ NEPA implementing regulations (40 CFR 1501.6). The DSEA analyzes the potential environmental impacts of the proposed modifications to the previously-approved alignment. It also contains OEA’s preliminary recommendations for environmental mitigation measures. The DSEA will be available on July 11, 2019 through the Board’s website at https://www.stb.gov by following the Decisions link and at the City of Moses Lake Public Library in Grant County, Washington. Next Steps: Following the close of the 30-day comment period on August 12, 2019 of the DSEA, OEA, and FRA as a cooperating agency, will issue a Final Supplemental EA that considers comments on the DSEA. The Board will then issue a final decision based on the Draft and Final Supplemental EAs and all public and agency comments in the public record for this proceeding. The final decision will address the transportation merits of the proposed project and the entire environmental record. The final decision will take one of three actions: Approve the proposed project, deny it, or approve it with mitigation conditions, including environmental conditions. Written Comments: Any interested party may submit written comments on the DSEA. The procedures for submitting written comments are outlined in the ADDRESSES section. Dated: July 9, 2019. By the Board, Victoria Ruston, Director, Office of Environmental Analysis. Jeffrey Herzig, Clearance Clerk. [FR Doc. 2019–14826 Filed 7–10–19; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4915–01–P SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD jspears on DSK30JT082PROD with NOTICES [Docket No. AB 55 (Sub–No. 793X); Docket No. AB 1233 (Sub–No. 1X)] CSX Transportation, Inc.— Abandonment Exemption—in Allegheny County, Pa.; Allegheny Valley Railroad Company— Discontinuance Exemption—in Allegheny County, Pa. CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSXT) and Allegheny Valley Railroad Company (AVR) (collectively, Applicants), have jointly filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR pt. 1152 VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:26 Jul 10, 2019 Jkt 247001 subpart F—Exempt Abandonments and Discontinuances of Service for CSXT to abandon, and for AVR to discontinue service over, an approximately 0.85mile rail line on the River Branch, Baltimore Division, P&W Subdivision between Val. Sta. 40+75 and the end of the line at Val. Sta. 85+76, in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pa. (the Line). The Line traverses U.S. Postal Service Zip Code 32609. Applicants have certified that: (1) No local traffic has moved over the Line for at least two years; (2) any overhead traffic can be rerouted; (3) no formal complaint filed by a user of rail service on the Line (or by a state or local government entity acting on behalf of such user) regarding cessation of service over the Line either is pending with the Surface Transportation Board (Board) or with any U.S. District Court or has been decided in favor of complainant within the two-year period; and (4) the requirements at 49 CFR 1105.7(c) (environmental report), 49 CFR 1105.12 (newspaper publication), and 49 CFR 1152.50(d)(1) (notice to governmental agencies) have been met. Any employee of AVR adversely affected by the discontinuance or abandonment shall be protected under Oregon Short Line Railroad— Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch Between Firth & Ammon, in Bingham & Bonneville Counties, Idaho, 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979). To address whether this condition adequately protects affected employees, a petition for partial revocation under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) must be filed. Provided no formal expression of intent to file an offer of financial assistance (OFA) has been received,1 these exemptions will be effective on August 10, 2019, unless stayed pending reconsideration. Petitions to stay that do not involve environmental issues,2 formal expressions of intent to file an OFA under 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2),3 and trail use/rail banking requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 must be filed by July 22, 1 Persons interested in submitting an OFA must first file a formal expression of intent to file an offer, indicating the type of financial assistance they wish to provide (i.e., subsidy or purchase) and demonstrating that they are preliminarily financially responsible. See 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2)(i). 2 The Board will grant a stay if an informed decision on environmental issues (whether raised by a party or by the Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) in its independent investigation) cannot be made before the exemptions’ effective date. See Exemption of Out-of-Serv. Rail Lines, 5 I.C.C.2d 377 (1989). Any request for a stay should be filed as soon as possible so that the Board may take appropriate action before the exemptions’ effective date. 3 Filing fees for OFAs and trail use requests can be found at 49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25) and (27), respectively. PO 00000 Frm 00065 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 33115 2019. Petitions to reopen or requests for public use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by July 31, 2019, with the Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20423–0001. A copy of any petition filed with the Board should be sent to Applicants’ representative: Louis E. Gitomer, Law Offices of Louis E. Gitomer, LLC, 600 Baltimore Avenue, Suite 301, Towson, MD 21204. If the verified notice contains false or misleading information, the exemptions are void ab initio. Applicants have filed a combined environmental and historic report that addresses the effects, if any, of the abandonment on the environment and historic resources. OEA will issue an environmental assessment (EA) by July 16, 2019. Interested persons may obtain a copy of the EA on the Board’s website, by writing to OEA, or by calling OEA at (202) 245–0305. Assistance for the hearing impaired is available through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877– 8339. Comments on environmental and historic preservation matters must be filed within 15 days after the EA becomes available to the public. Environmental, historic preservation, public use, or trail use/rail banking conditions will be imposed, where appropriate, in a subsequent decision. Pursuant to the provisions of 49 CFR 1152.29(e)(2), CSXT shall file a notice of consummation with the Board to signify that it has exercised the authority granted and fully abandoned the Line. If consummation has not been effected by CSXT’s filing of a notice of consummation by July 11, 2020, and there are no legal or regulatory barriers to consummation, the authority to abandon will automatically expire. Board decisions and notices are available at www.stb.gov. Decided: July 8, 2019. By the Board, Allison C. Davis, Director, Office of Proceedings. Jeffrey Herzig, Clearance Clerk. [FR Doc. 2019–14747 Filed 7–10–19; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4915–01–P DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Aviation Administration Notice of Request To Release Airport Property for Land Disposal Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. ACTION: Notice of request to rule on release of airport property for land AGENCY: E:\FR\FM\11JYN1.SGM 11JYN1
Surface Transportation Board
[Docket No. AB 55 (Sub-No. 793X); Docket No. AB 1233 (Sub-No. 1X)]
CSX Transportation, Inc.--Abandonment Exemption--in Allegheny
County, Pa.; Allegheny Valley Railroad Company--Discontinuance
Exemption--in Allegheny County, Pa.
CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSXT) and Allegheny Valley Railroad
Company (AVR) (collectively, Applicants), have jointly filed a verified
notice of exemption under 49 CFR pt. 1152 subpart F--Exempt
Abandonments and Discontinuances of Service for CSXT to abandon, and
for AVR to discontinue service over, an approximately 0.85-mile rail
line on the River Branch, Baltimore Division, P&W Subdivision between
Val. Sta. 40+75 and the end of the line at Val. Sta. 85+76, in
Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pa. (the Line). The Line traverses U.S.
Postal Service Zip Code 32609.
Applicants have certified that: (1) No local traffic has moved over
the Line for at least two years; (2) any overhead traffic can be
rerouted; (3) no formal complaint filed by a user of rail service on
the Line (or by a state or local government entity acting on behalf of
such user) regarding cessation of service over the Line either is
pending with the Surface Transportation Board (Board) or with any U.S.
District Court or has been decided in favor of complainant within the
two-year period; and (4) the requirements at 49 CFR 1105.7(c)
(environmental report), 49 CFR 1105.12 (newspaper publication), and 49
CFR 1152.50(d)(1) (notice to governmental agencies) have been met.
Any employee of AVR adversely affected by the discontinuance or
abandonment shall be protected under Oregon Short Line Railroad--
Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch Between Firth & Ammon, in Bingham &
Bonneville Counties, Idaho, 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979). To address whether
this condition adequately protects affected employees, a petition for
partial revocation under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) must be filed.
Provided no formal expression of intent to file an offer of
financial assistance (OFA) has been received,\1\ these exemptions will
be effective on August 10, 2019, unless stayed pending reconsideration.
Petitions to stay that do not involve environmental issues,\2\ formal
expressions of intent to file an OFA under 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2),\3\ and
trail use/rail banking requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 must be filed by
July 22, 2019. Petitions to reopen or requests for public use
conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by July 31, 2019, with
the Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street SW, Washington, DC
\1\ Persons interested in submitting an OFA must first file a
formal expression of intent to file an offer, indicating the type of
financial assistance they wish to provide (i.e., subsidy or
purchase) and demonstrating that they are preliminarily financially
responsible. See 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2)(i).
\2\ The Board will grant a stay if an informed decision on
environmental issues (whether raised by a party or by the Board's
Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) in its independent
investigation) cannot be made before the exemptions' effective date.
See Exemption of Out-of-Serv. Rail Lines, 5 I.C.C.2d 377 (1989). Any
request for a stay should be filed as soon as possible so that the
Board may take appropriate action before the exemptions' effective
\3\ Filing fees for OFAs and trail use requests can be found at
49 CFR 1002.2(f)(25) and (27), respectively.
A copy of any petition filed with the Board should be sent to
Applicants' representative: Louis E. Gitomer, Law Offices of Louis E.
Gitomer, LLC, 600 Baltimore Avenue, Suite 301, Towson, MD 21204.
If the verified notice contains false or misleading information,
the exemptions are void ab initio.
Applicants have filed a combined environmental and historic report
that addresses the effects, if any, of the abandonment on the
environment and historic resources. OEA will issue an environmental
assessment (EA) by July 16, 2019. Interested persons may obtain a copy
of the EA on the Board's website, by writing to OEA, or by calling OEA
at (202) 245-0305. Assistance for the hearing impaired is available
through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Comments on
environmental and historic preservation matters must be filed within 15
days after the EA becomes available to the public.
Environmental, historic preservation, public use, or trail use/rail
banking conditions will be imposed, where appropriate, in a subsequent
Pursuant to the provisions of 49 CFR 1152.29(e)(2), CSXT shall file
a notice of consummation with the Board to signify that it has
exercised the authority granted and fully abandoned the Line. If
consummation has not been effected by CSXT's filing of a notice of
consummation by July 11, 2020, and there are no legal or regulatory
barriers to consummation, the authority to abandon will automatically
expire.
Board decisions and notices are available at www.stb.gov.
Decided: July 8, 2019.
By the Board, Allison C. Davis, Director, Office of Proceedings.
Jeffrey Herzig,
Clearance Clerk.
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Tag Archives: Holy Land
An Indispensable Book on Palestine/Israel
Responding to Fast Times in Palestine: A Love Affair with a Homeless Homeland by Pamela Olson (Berkeley, CA: Seal Press)
I realize that without knowing it, I have long waited for this book, although I could not have imagined its lyric magic in advance of reading. It is a triumph of what I would call ‘intelligent innocence,’ the great benefits of a clear mind, an open and warm heart, and a trustworthy moral compass that draws sharp lines between good and evil while remaining ever sensitive to the contradictory vagaries of lives and geographic destinies. Pamela Olson exhibits an endearing combination of humility and overall emotional composure that makes her engaged witnessing of the Palestinian ordeal so valuable for me as I believe and hope it will be for others.
Early on, she acknowledges her lack of background with refreshing honesty: “Green and wide-eyed, I wandered into the Holy Land, an empty vessel.” But don’t be fooled. Olson, who had recently graduated from Stanford, almost immediately dives deeply into the daily experience of Palestine and Palestinians, with luminous insight and a sensibility honed on an anvil of tenderness, truthfulness, and a readiness for adventure and romance. Upon crossing the border that separates Israel from the West Bank, enduring routine yet frightening difficulties at the checkpoint, she find herself in the Palestinian village of Jayyous, not far from the Palestinian city of Jenin. Her first surprise is the welcoming warmth of the villagers whose hospitality makes her feel almost as if she is on a homecoming visit to Stigler, the small town in eastern Oklahoma where she grew up. Almost at once Olson finds herself in the midst of a social circle in Jayyous that harvests olives during the day and sits together on porches in the evening puffing on a nargila (water pipe) and conversing about the world.
Olson’s authenticity pervades the book, whether it is a matter of adoring the cuisine or acknowledging her infatuation with a Palestinian young man who crosses her path. She learns to speak a bit of Arabic, reads up on the struggle, and stays alert. The style of the book is an enchanting mixture of personal journal, travelogue, political primer on the conflict, and coming of age memoir. She writes with clarity, humor, and self-scrutiny (in a tone of almost asking herself, ‘Who is this girl from rural Oklahoma who is experiencing this extraordinary encounter with people and the sad conditions of their lives?’).
As the title implies, it is primarily a book about Palestine and what occupation means for Palestinians trapped under Israeli military rule for more than 45 years, and how their extraordinary qualities of humane coping make Jayyous and Ramallah so inspirational for her. It instills an intense longing to return and share the dangers and deprivations, which are more powerfully satisfying than the pleasures of ‘freedom.’ (I am reminded of a friend from Gaza, a leading human rights activist, whose family has been living in Cairo in recent years. He tells me that when he plans a vacation, his university age children who are studying abroad insist on going to Gaza rather than Paris or London.)
Yet the book is sensitive to the tragic experiences of both peoples. Through the whole of her experience, Olson remains open to her Israeli friend, Dan, as well as to a Christian appreciation of the Holy Land, not as a believer but as someone whose identity was formed in a religiously Christian community. Early on in the book, when she tells Dan how disturbed she is by the occupation, he reminds her of Israeli grief and distress. Dan’s words: “Last year there was a suicide bombing practically every week, it was… unbelievable. The mall we went to yesterday was bombed last year. Three weeks ago a suicide bomber killed twenty people in a restaurant in Haifa. Just innocent people having a meal.” Olson’s response is characteristically empathetic: “I sighed and looked out over the water. What I had seen in the West Bank was terrible, but there was another side to the story, after all. I tried to imagine the horror of people sitting around having a meal, and then all of a sudden—” But in the end it becomes clear that Israel’s human rights violations have, if anything, a negative impact on Israeli security.
One of the most moving chapters is a description of a visit by Olson’s mother and stepfather. She pressured them to come so that “they would never have to wonder whether I had exaggerated either the beauty or the horror.” Because this was her mother’s first trip outside of America, she saw what was to be seen with fresh eyes. This experience produced joy and wonder along with tearful reactions at checkpoints, such as: “Good Lord… How can this be happening over here and no one in America even knows or cares?” Is this not the question we should all have been asking for decades? During the visit, they also spend time touring the Christian sites in and around Jerusalem and the Galilee that are particularly meaningful to her religious mother.
The timeline of the book covers 2003-2005. But the essentials of the occupation emerge, especially the encroachment of the separation wall, the settlements, and checkpoints, and what it means for a Palestinian to live day by day under systematic violations of human rights that show no sign of ending in the foreseeable future. When Olson inserts information about history, Israeli and Palestinian politics, international law and elementary morality, she is accurate, concise, and perceptive. She also is honest enough not to suppress her emotional responses to some extreme situations.
In the end what gives the book its special value is the compelling credibility of her “love affair with a homeless homeland,” a sub-title that says it all! It is one thing to lament the suffering and humiliation of the Palestinians or to condemn the cruelty and harshness of the Israeli occupation. It is quite another to be able to observe these defining realities and yet see beyond to a proud and gracious people with a generous sense of humor who manage to live as vibrantly as possible even under almost unimaginable circumstances of oppression. It is this combination of feeling the Palestinian hurt while celebrating the warmth and genuineness of the Palestinian embrace that allows a reader to achieve what I had previously thought impossible without an immersion in the place itself. Olson is a twenty-first century example of how a reassuringly normal American woman might best visit the Arab world. She is intensely curious, with a gift for observation and dialogue and a sensibility that is not afraid of danger or to acknowledge shades of gray or to register her disappointments with others, and above all with herself. Her own evolution is also relevant, from a ‘Bible-centric’ youth in Oklahoma to a scientifically oriented skepticism to a wonderfully caring person who managed to have this incredible ‘love affair’ with occupied Palestine, amid the ruins. In her words, “I couldn’t imagine a better university of human nature.”
Obviously Pamela Olson is blessed with talent. A girl from rural Oklahoma who had to struggle to find the funds to attend college does not make it to the likes of Stanford very often, where she majors in physics and political science, nor does the typical graduate defer entering the job market and go about exploring the world to find out what it is like, and how best to live her life. It is thus not entirely surprising that after her experiences in Palestine, Olson returned to work for a ‘Defense Department think tank’ to try to understand why American foreign policy was so dysfunctional, and found it ‘educational but disillusioning.’ She lasted less than two years before deciding to write Fast Times in Palestine, her attempt to bring what she learned in Palestine directly to the American people.
I have the following daydream: If everyone in America could just sit down quietly and read this book, there would be such an upsurge of outrage and empathy that the climate of opinion on the Israel/Palestine conflict would finally change for the better—even in the polluted air that now prevails within the Beltway. At the very least, as many people as possible should read the book, and if your reaction is similar to mine, give a copy to friends and encourage them to spread the word. We in America should stop subsidizing and facilitating the systematic creation of ‘a homeless homeland.’ As a close friend in Jayyous named Rania tells Pamela, “Imagine if there was no occupation! Palestine would be like paradise.”
The book can be pre-ordered from Amazon. It will be available in mid-March. http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Times-Palestine-Homeless-Homeland/dp/158005482X
I urge you to do so!
Tags: Holy Land, Human rights, Israel, Jayyous, Palestine, Palestinian people, Palestinian territories, West Bank
Categories America, Commentary, Israel/Palestine
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Robb Report Australia
Jewellery By CAROLYN MEERS January 10, 2019
From Marie Antoinette’s pendant to a 102-carat diamond, 5 epic gems that sold in 2018
Christie’s, The Pink Legacy
In Geneva this past November, Christie’s sold the nearly 19-carat Pink Legacy diamond for more than US$50 million—several million more than its estimated sale price. The rectangular-cut diamond—which, at the time of the auction was set into a ring—is the largest fancy vivid pink diamond ever to come up for sale. The Gemological Institute of America awarded the Pink Legacy the highest diamond color grading of “vivid”—vivid colored diamonds have the most strongly saturated hues. In addition, the Pink Legacy classifies as a Type IIa diamond, which contain little if any nitrogen and account for less than two percent of all gem diamonds. Specialists at Christie’s says the Pink Legacy is one of the most chemically pure gems they’ve encountered. The gem is said to have once belonged to the Oppenheimer diamond family.
It was later revealed that Harry Winston CEO Nayla Hayek had purchased the diamond, and renamed it the Winston Pink Legacy.
Pink Legacy Diamond Photo: Courtesy Christie's
Sotheby’s, 102-carat Diamond
In April, Sotheby’s sold the only known round brilliant diamond over 100 carats. It is the world’s only known D-color round brilliant-cut diamond in that size that is technically flawless.
The gem, which was unveiled back in February, was purchased by a private buyer for an undisclosed sum—but it is reported that the deal far exceeded the previous record of US$260,252 per carat set by a diamond in 2013.Which means the 102-carat jewel likely sold for at least US$26.63 million. The jewel’s diameter is larger than a quarter and it is considered the rarest white diamond ever to be sold.
Founder and chairman of Sotheby’s Diamonds Patti Wong described the gem as a “masterpiece of nature” and noted the buyer’s reaction to the diamond: “When the new custodian of this stone first beheld it, they were—like everyone else who has seen it—completely captivated. It is hard to believe that something so ancient—these stones are as old as the earth itself—can be so alive, so full of fire and blinding brilliance.” The previous record holder was a 118.28 carat oval diamond that sold at auction in 2013 in Hong Kong for a total of US$30.8 million.
Sotheby’s white diamond Photo: Courtesy Sotheby's
Lesotho Legend, 910-carat Diamond
In March, the fifth-largest diamond on record sold for US$40 million. The gem, which is roughly the size of two golf balls, has been named “the Lesotho Legend.” It was unearthed in January from the Letšeng mine in the Southern African nation of Lesotho and is a Type IIa D color stone. Its original owners, U.K.-based mining company Gem Diamonds Ltd., reportedly sold the diamond on March 12 to Samir Gems, an Antwerp-based supplier run by India’s Bhansali family. “We are delighted with the outcome of the sale of this iconic diamond, which demonstrates the exceptional quality of the Lesotho Legend itself, as well as reaffirming the unique quality of the Letšeng diamond production,” said Gem Diamonds CEO Clifford Elphick in a statement from the company, which owns 70 percent of the Letšeng mine in Lesotho.
Lesotho Legend, 910-carat diamond Photo: Courtesy Gem Diamonds
Sotheby’s, Marie Antoinette’s Pearl Pendant
In November, Sotheby’s in Geneva sold a large, drop-shaped natural pearl pendant for more than US$36 million—a record price for a pearl at auction. The design once belonged to French Queen Marie Antoinette, who smuggled several pieces from her collection out of France as the Revolution gained momentum. Some of the Marie Antoinette jewellery offered in this sale hadn’t been seen in public for 200 years—including a pendant that included a diamond double-ribbon-bow brooch, which sold for more than US$2.1 million; a monogram ring with woven strands of Antoinette’s hair, which went for around US$440,000; and a pearl and diamond necklace sold for US$2.2 million.
Sotheby’s Royal Jewels Getty Images for Sotheby's
Sotheby’s, Farnese Blue Diamond
In May, a rare 6.16-carat rare blue diamond known as the Farnese Blue exceeded initial expectations and sold through Sotheby’s Geneva to an anonymous buyer for US$6.7 million. The gem had been passed between Europe’s royal houses for more than 300 years, and, at one time, was hidden in a casket as it traveled through Spain, France, Italy, and Austria. Originally unearthed from the Golconda mines in southern India, the fancy dark grey-blue diamond is named for the second wife of King Philip V of Spain, Elisabeth Farnese, who received it as a wedding gift in 1715. The gem was also thought to have been the centerpiece of a tiara once owned by Marie Antoinette.
Farnese Blue diamond Photo: Courtesy Sotheby's
Christie’s Maharajas & Mughal Magnificence Sale Made Over $152 Million—and Set 3 New Records
It's the second highest total for a private jewellery collection.
Lab-Grown Diamonds Are Now a $400 Million Business
Diamonds grown in labs will account for up to $600 million in sales this year.
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Rupert Smith
Contact and networking
I Must Confess
Man Enough to be a Woman
Rupert James
Tag Archives: spiritualism
64. London Belongs to Me, Norman Collins (1945)
OK, I’m cheating here, because I’ve just finished reading this and it’s been washed into the Top 100 on a tidal wave of enthusiasm. London Belongs to Me is exactly the sort of novel that I dream about discovering, and so rarely do. It’s a big busy book about the residents of a south London boarding house during the Second World War, and it’s written in an elegant, conversational tone that disguises the superb craftsmanship of the narrative. Collins (a hugely successful author who went on to become one of the most important post-War TV executives) handles his large, diverse cast with a juggler’s skill, and manages to juxtapose sentiment, comedy and hard-boiled action without ever striking a false note. There’s a camp old retired actress living upstairs, a phony Spiritualist medium in the basement and all human life in between. They eat disgusting food, smoke a lot of fags and trundle around streets that we are still familiar with. The fact that it’s set in Kennington, just down the road from my house, makes it a special joy. Oddly, the introduction to the Penguin reissue goes to great lengths to tell us that London Belongs to Me is a second-rate novel, ‘just a soap opera’ etc, which is absolute bollocks. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Filed under My top 100 novels
Tagged as dunkirk, kennington, london belongs to me, london novels, norman collins, popular fiction, second world war fiction, spiritualism, the blitz
Sad songs no 1. For a While – Nina Simone
Sad Songs no 2. Avec le temps – Léo Ferré
Sad Songs no 4. Love Don’t Live Here Anymore – Rose Royce
Sad songs no 5. I’m Still Waiting – Diana Ross
Sad Songs no 6. Been Alone So Long – Peter Hammill
My top 100 novels
Sad songs
Rupert Smith · Just another WordPress.com site
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Many of us, in various parts of the world, watched in horror and disbelief when Notre-Dame de Paris went up in flames. It was especially gut-wrenching to witness an infernal beast consume the roof and topple the steeple of one of the world’s great Christian cathedrals at the very beginning of Holy Week. Like other televised tragedies, such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, the horrific spectacle in Paris commanded global attention and received blanket coverage from both mainstream and social media. And as with other history-making events, some journalists and pundits saw this as an opportunity to offer grave and poetic commentary. There was a lot of deliberating and moralizing. What did this distressing scene say about the current state of the scandal-plagued and ideologically divided Catholic Church? What was its message for secularized France? What fierce warning did it hold for a Western civilization that has become unhinged from its Christian moorings? In the end, Notre-Dame was not destroyed. And not a single life was lost, thanks be to God.
But the fire of this magnificent cathedral was a truly shocking thing to watch as I spent several hours switching back and forth through some of the channels available on my satellite dish: Italian State TV (RAI), Sky Italia, France24, Fox News… At CNN there was Chris Cuomo speaking about the symbolic importance of Notre-Dame for Catholicism and even the Vatican, wondering if the pope would actually go to Paris for Easter. “Imagine the image of Pope Francis in front of Notre-Dame saying Mass on Sunday. You know, with smoke still rising up from it as an idea of rebirth and renewal. How powerful that would be.” After briefly conceding the “concept from Catholicism (that) the Church is the people, not the places… and the people matter most”, Cuomo continued speculating. “It will be so interesting to see what pope does with this Holy Week, given this loss. Is there a chance that you see the pope not in Rome celebrating Easter Sunday, but here? What an important image that would be.” CNN’s correspondent in Rome, Delia Gallagher, said she “wouldn’t rule it out” because, “of course, we know that he’s a pope of surprises”. Jim Bittermann, an old hand with CNN who has been in Paris, off and on, for many years, said “it would be quite a remarkable symbol if this pope decided to come visit for the Easter Mass”. But he then cautioned, “It’s hard to believe that that could be organized so quickly, especially with the church still burning at this hour.”
Oh my, I thought. What to make of this sort of suggestive speculation? These are all top-notch reporters and news analysts. Is it possible that they have not really understood Pope Francis’s priorities or the change of mentality he’s tried to bring about these past six years? The 82-year-old Jesuit pope is, by no means, anti-cultural. He is not anti-European. But, at the same time, and despite the affection he would win back from the people of France, it would be out of character for him to drop everything and rush to Paris because a cathedral has been badly damaged by fire – even considering the artistic masterpiece and historically important religious symbol that it is. The pope of Laudato Si’ is more concerned about our own human destruction of God’s masterpiece – the created universe and the human person. Francis is more alarmed that we are killing ourselves from the earliest stages of life in the womb up to natural death; through wars, torture and human trafficking. He’s disquieted by our careless destruction of our “common home," through the pollution of the air we breathe and the water we drink; through the wars we wage and the greed that consumes us to the detriment of the poor, the week, the immigrant and refugee and all other outcasts of society.
Pope Francis has not focused his worldwide ministry on preserving the cultural and artistic heritage of Christianity, at least not the way that has been manifested over the centuries through structures built of precious stones. Instead, he tried to show us how to take care of so many “living stones” that we have long ignored or scorned. He has gone to places like Lampedusa and Lesbos to comfort refugees; he has spent every Holy Thursday in prisons, washing the feet of criminals, some who are not even Christians. Like his patron, St. Francis of Assisi, the pope has seen the call to rebuild the Lord’s house as a summons to repair God’s crumbling household – all of humanity made in God’s image and likeness– rather than a building made of wood and stone. As Richard Rohr has said, “Creation itself – not ritual or spaces constructed by human hands – was St. Francis’ primary cathedral.” And so it is for Pope Francis.
Robert Mickens is the English editor for La Croix International website.
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Shoeleather June 2011 is a collection of projects reported and written by graduating seniors in the honors program of the NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.
Brooke Kroeger, editor
Monica Burton
Ava Feuer
Jessica Minkoff
Isabella Moschen
Dyan Neary
Paulina Reso
Amanda Sterling
Jill Voon
Monica Burton is a freelance writer in New York City. She recently graduated with honors from NYU where she studied journalism and French, two interests that fueled her eight months of reporting on the popularity of French education in New York. She has contributed to Newsweek and TheCelebrityCafe.com and hopes to continue writing about cultural happenings in New York City, French and American alike.
Read Monica's article, A Language en Vogue
Monica can be contacted at
Ava Feuer is a born and bred New Yorker who graduated from New York University with degrees in journalism and English and American literature. She spent eight months reporting on eating disorders among men, a surprisingly common but vastly undercovered problem. She has written for Seventeen, Teen Vogue, and Redbook.
Read Ava's article, Starving in Silence.
Ava can be contacted at
Jessica Minkoff is a native New Yorker who traded in her ballet shoes for a double major in journalism and sociology at New York University. Over the past eight months she has reported on sustainable fashion, interviewing independent designers, mainstream editors, and eco-experts. She has written for Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, WWD, and Refinery29.
Read Jessica's article, Styling Sustainability.
Jessica can be contacted at
Isabella Moschen is a freelance writer based in New York City and a recent graduate of NYU with a double major in journalism and Latin American studies. She has contributed to City Limits Magazine and Time Out New York. In the future, she'd like to get in touch with her Peruvian roots and work as a foreign correspondent in South America. Until then, she plans to stay local and cover immigrant issues.
Read Isabella's article, Margarita's Journey.
Isabella can be contacted at
Dyan Neary is a writer and documentary filmmaker from New York City. She has contributed to The New York Times, GO magazine, In These Times, Zmag, The Indypendent and MediaGeek, among others, with a focus on human rights and environmental issues. She also has worked as a staff writer and foreign correspondent for The Earth Times and Conference News Daily, providing on-site coverage of United Nations summits. She loves to travel and can often be found camping out in some of the world's most exquisite natural settings.
Dyan can be contacted at
Paulina Reso is a freelance journalist who has written on music, technology, and cultural oddities. She has contributed to The New Yorker, the Village Voice, New York Daily News, and mediabistro.com. When she isn't writing, reporting, and shooting photos, she's playing jazz clarinet, toying with HTML and CSS, or concocting vegetarian recipes.
Read Paulina's article, Tangles in the Web.
View her online portfolio at View her online portfolio at http://paulinareso.com or contact her at
Amanda Sterling is a Texas native who recently graduated with honors from New York University, where she studied drama and journalism. She has written for CBS News, the New York Observer, and the national online magazine Her Campus. In addition to reporting, she enjoys acting, writing fiction, and complicated cooking projects.
Read Amanda's article, No EDNOS in Sight.
Amanda can be contacted at
Jill Voon spent the last year in and out of tattoo shops researching the changing perceptions of body art because she wanted a good defense when she finally told her parents about her tattoo. She graduated from NYU with honors in journalism and economics and is currently working as a Finance Analyst at Citigroup. In her free time, Jill enjoys travel, cooking, and dreaming about her next tattoo.
Read Jill's article, Spreading Ink.
Jill can be contacted at
© Copyright 2014 NYU
Web Design: Heather Lynch
Shoe Illustration: Ian Gil
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Lourdes, 2018
Local Wards
Grants and Merchandise
Officers & Contacts
Loving God by loving Mary.
Ave Magazine
Annual Pilgrimage
About the Society of Mary
The Society of Mary, whilst being one of the Catholic Societies of the Church of England, has members in churches and countries all over the world.
The objects of the Society are:
to love and honour Mary.
to spread devotion to her in reparation for past neglect and misunderstanding and in the cause of Christian Unity
to take Mary as a model in purity, personal relationships, and family life.
Membership is open to all who are willing to keep the Rule, which includes:
Members shall keep a Rule of Life, which will include such special devotions as the Angelus, the Rosary, the Litany and Anthems of Our Lady.
They will pray for departed members of the Society and offer Mass for them.
They will take part in the Mass on the principal Feasts of Our Lady.
They will engage in apostolic and pastoral work, according to opportunity, under the guidance of the local Ward Officers and the General Council.
Where there are enough members of the Society, they can form a Ward, with a priest as Superior and a Secretary. Where there are fewer members, a Cell can be formed. Isolated members can be attached to the Headquarters Ward. Wards and Cells may gather for prayer and worship, for fellowship and fun.
The Society of Mary is not affiliated to any individual Marian shrine or institution and is keen to promote equally all the different aspects of devotion to Mary.
To join, please complete and return this form.
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The Tuolumne County Historical Society gives us this excellent history of Pickering in Tuolumne County.
http://www.tchistory.org/TCHISTORY/lumber.htm
To quote a small section of that history,
“Tuolumne County’s second major lumber operation was the Standard Lumber Company, headquartered initially in Sonora and later at the company town of Standard. It was incorporated in 1901 by D. H. Steinmitz, and was joined by T. S. Bullock after the West Side Lumber Company was sold to a Michigan corporation. The new company was formed by the acquisition of S. S. Bradford’s mountain sawmill, timber land, planing mill, and sash-door factory in Sonora. In addition, N. L. Knedsen’s mill and lumberyard in south Sonora were taken under lease as part of the holdings of the Standard Lumber Company”
Some of the original Bradford mill buildings in Sonora can still be seen on Washington Street where JS West uses them for part of its operations.
These next two links will take you to reports for the California Dept. of Parks and Recreation
They contain a history and description of the buildings that were at Standard, done for the purpose of determining if the site was suitable for inclusion in the National Registry of Historic Places, or designation as an historic site. These were given to us by Judith Marvin, one of the authors of the reports.
Standard BSO
Standard Primary
Quoting again from the TCHS site,
“Initially, Pickering Lumber Company acquired the Standard Lumber Company and its Sugar Pine Railroad in 1921. In 1925, Pickering also acquired the West Side Lumber Company and its railroad. However, after the depression of the 1930s, Pickering Lumber Company closed down all operations. In 1934, West Side Lumber and its railroad were returned to its former owners. By 1937, Pickering reopened its remaining operations after receiving a Federal economic recovery aid loan. After improved roads were built for automobiles and the trucking industry, logging trucks were selected over railroads by West Side Lumber Company. In 1961 the West Side Lumber Railroad was closed down and four years later Pickering Lumber Railroad (old Sugar Pine Railroad) also closed.”
“Fiberboard Paper Products purchased Pickering Lumber Company in 1965. Following their bankruptcy, it was bought by Louisiana Pacific and finally purchased in 1995 by its current owners, Sierra Pacific Industries. The Sierra Railroad hauled freight and processed timber products and contracted to haul logs from out-of-state to be processed at Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) located next to the old company town of Standard”
What was the Pickering Mill at Standard is now owned and operated by Sierra Pacific Industries, the lumbering giant. The mill was closed in 2009, but reopened with modernized equipment in 2011.
Please visit the Tuolumne County Historical Society’s web site at http://www.tchistory.org/
Gerald French, author of the definitive book, When Steam was King has given the Sierra Nevada Logging Museum a collection of his slides of the Pickering Lumbering operation in 1958. We will soon have a display of his photos in the museum.
Pickering and the South Grove of the Big Trees
Brian Wise owner of the Yahoo Group of plcorp, a group of people especially interested in the history of the Pickering Lumber Company, gives us this history of how the Calaveras Big Trees, South Grove, was saved from the lumberman’s axe.
“Actually, the push to save the Big Trees goes way back to 1900 and earlier. After their “discovery” in 1852, various persons were quick to exploit the trees. At least one mammoth sequoia was cut down, and another had its bark stripped for display overseas. The South Grove property was sold at public auction (by the State of CA) for $15,000 to a Mr. Sperry, who later sold it (1900) to a lumberman named Whiteside. It was that sale that aroused public awareness of the Big Trees and inspired the creation of the Calaveras Grove Association. The CGA assisted in the movement to create a system of state parks, which occured in 1928. In 1931 the North Grove finally became a state park, but the South Grove property had already been sold to Pickering in 1927. When the Great Depression hit, private donations became scarce, state park funds all but vanished, and the CGA disbanded so there was no push to acquire the South Grove and add it to the park system.
Pickering didn’t reach their South Grove property until about 1949, establishing Beaver Creek Camp in 1950. Pickering didn’t take advantage of the South Grove property then, though, as conservationists and the Forest Service held them at bay. A new CGA was formed in 1954 which held a massive fund raising campaign, and thanks to a huge donation from John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the California State Parks Commission negotiated the purchase of the South Grove property from Pickering. The Forest Service, however, allowed Pickering to cut timber on approximately 30 acres within the South Grove to help smooth over their relationship.”
on January 8, 2013 at 7:29 am | Reply Lesley Cadwgan (nee Pickering)
Searching for information about my Grandfather
I was, before marriage, Lesley Pickering
My father was Leslie Thomas Pickering
My grandmother, Gurtrude Pickering was pregnant although unmarried and wished to marry her cousin Thomas Pickering who was sent away to America in disgrace in 1905/6 to ‘family’ (cousins/uncles?) to work on a ranch/farm or in the lumber company?
We were told that Rattlesnake Creek was a name remembered, he may have returned after a few years and there was a story within the family of ‘a man with a watch’
A contact was made in the 1940s to our family regarding a ranch and again in the 1970s my mother received a ‘phone call from the USA asking after my father, my mother dismissed this as my father died in 1962.
I have been tracing the records back and it would appear that Alfred who founded the Timber Company may have been the elder brother of Edward who was the father of my Great Grandmother Alice Pickering who is shewn as single head of household with her daughter Gurtrude and her son, my father, in 1911.
There are clear Derbyshire connections also Leicestershire and Nottingham all very local to each other in England.
I have a lot more detail if required.
on January 8, 2013 at 3:22 pm | Reply John Hofstetter
Interesting, Lesley. Thanks for the history.
on January 8, 2013 at 3:29 pm | Reply Lesley Cadwgan.(nee Pickering.)
thank you for interesting information have you any names or contact details of pickering family who i may contact
on January 11, 2013 at 2:53 pm | Reply John Hofstetter
No, I have no contacts for you. Sorry.
Leave a Reply to John Hofstetter Cancel reply
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Sector Involvement
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Board of directors of GAWA Capital
Antonio Garrigues Walker
Non-executive Chairman of GAWA Capital. Honorary Chairman of law firm Garrigues Abogados and Chairman of Garrigues Foundation
Mr. Garrigues is currently Chairman of law firm Garrigues, Spain’s largest law firm and one of the most important firms in Latin America. He also serves as Honorary Chairman of United Nations High Commissioner for Refuges in Spain, Executive Committee member of Trilateral Commission Asia-Europe-North America, Chairman of the Foundation Council Spain-Japan, Honorary Member of the Foundation Council Spain-USA, Member of the Foundation Council Spain-China, Honorary Member of the American Bar Association and Chairman of the University of Navarra Global Law Chair. Mr Garrigues is “Doctor Honoris Causa” by Universidad Europea de Madrid, Universidad de Ciencias Empresariales y Sociales de Buenos Aires, Universidad Pontificia Comillas and Universidad Ramon Llull.
Esther Giménez-Salinas
Board member at Banco Santander
Ms. Giménez-Salinas is the former president of Universidad Ramon Llul, one of the most prestigious private universities in Spain. She is currently an independent director at Banco Santander. She has been Chairman of the “Mona i Ciencia” Commission of the Catalunya Interuniversity Council and an Advisor to Spain Ministry of Education. She has been member of the Consejo General del Poder Judicial (Highest Spanish Judicial Body) and General Manager of the Centre d’Estudis Jurídics of the Justice Department of the Generalitat de Catalunya. She has been board member of the Fundación Catalunya Oberta, Member of the Spanish Group of the Trilateral Commission, member of the Scientific Committee of Criminal Policy of the Council of Europe. She is an advanced researcher and publisher of many academic papers related to justice for the youth, poverty, education, delinquency and immigration. She was Professor of Criminal Law at ESADE, and holds a PhD in Law and a degree in Psychology.
Eduardo Diez-Hochleitner
Chairman of MásMóvil Telecom and of Samaipata Ventures
Mr. Diez-Hochleitner holds more than 30 years of experience in general management and corporate finance. He has played a key role in the founding of GAWA Capital as one of its Co-Founders. As a business angel Mr. Diez-Hochleitner has helped launching several companies including MásMóvil, Canalmail and Bodaclick. He has been Vice Chairman and CEO of 20 Minutos España (publisher of Spain's leading free newspaper). He is also an advisor and board member at several companies.
He has been a Partner at Apax Partners for 5 years, where he was heading the media investment group in Spain. Before Apax Partners, Mr. Diez-Hochleitner was the COO and CFO for the largest media group in Spain, Grupo Prisa, where among other responsibilities he led the expansion of the group in Latin America and the group’s IPO process.
Mr. Diez-Hochleitner started his career in banking, where he held various responsibilities at the Dresdner Bank and BNP Paribas group, including heading Banexi in Spain.
He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from IESE (Universidad de Navarra) and a BA from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
David Jiménez-Blanco
Group Strategy and Chief Restructuring Officer, Abengoa
Mr. Jiménez-Blanco has over 25 years of management and investment banking experience at top global institutions in London and Madrid. During his investment banking career he advised the largest Spanish and Portuguese companies in their most important strategic and financial transactions, including Telefonica, Endesa, Banco Santander, Repsol, ACS, Ferrovial, EDP, Portugal Telecom.
Prior to joining Abengoa he was CFO at World Duty Free Group (the European leader in airport travel retail with global sales of over €2bn in 2012). Previously he was a partner at the private equity firm BK Partners, which manages among other funds the Balam Fund, specializing in investment in the renewable energy sector in Mexico. Mr. Jiménez-Blanco was from 2006 to 2009 the Chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch in Spain and Portugal. He became involved in GAWA Capital in 2009, due to his high interest in microfinance, impact investing and poverty alleviation. Before joining Merrill Lynch in 2006, David served as Head of the European Industrials Group at Goldman Sachs' London Office, having been Co-Head of the Spanish Investment Banking Team in Madrid. He worked for Goldman Sachs from 1995 to 2006. Before Goldman Sachs, Mr. Jiménez-Blanco was a Director of Investment Banking at Salomon Brothers in London, where he worked from 1989 to 1995.
Mr. Jiménez-Blanco holds a Business Administration degree from CUNEF (ascribed to Universidad Complutense Madrid).
Santiago de Torres
Chairman of the Economic Commission of the Fundación Albéniz
Mr. de Torres is the Chairman of the Economic Commission of the Fundación Albéniz, Vice-Chairman of the Alzheimer International Foundation and Board Member of Fundación Solidaridad Internacional.
Over 30 years of experience in public service, social organizations and as board member of several corporations. He was Deputy Secretary of State of Culture and of Social Affairs, Delegate in Madrid of the Generalitat de Catalunya and General Manager of Public Health.
He holds a MD degree from Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.
Rafael Roldán
Chairman of Ernst&Young Corporate Services
Over 30 years of experience in corporate finance and strategy.
Former founder and chairman of Ambers&Co. He holds a chemical engineering degree from Universidad Complutense Madrid and postgraduate degrees from University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and ICADE.
Ricardo Gómez
Secretary of the Board
Senior Partner and Chairman of the Board of Managing Partners at Garrigues Abogados
More than 30 years of experience as an attorney, Ricardo Gómez-Barreda, is a specialist in M&A and financial taxation. Throughout his career at Garrigues, Mr Gómez-Barreda has specialized in providing tax advice to financial institutions and multinationals, as well as in M&A. He has widely advised ongroup reorganizations and international deal structuring. He is also a renowned expert in management buy-out and leveraged buy-out transactions, project finance, acquisitions and productdesign for the banking industry. He is a frequent speaker at seminars and conferences both in Spain and abroad.
He holds a law degree and an economics degree from Deusto University.
Alfredo Soriano
Managing Director, Head of Investment Banking at JB Capital Markets
One of the founding partners of Ambers&Co, Alfredo has more than 15 years of professional background in M&A practice, with specialization in TMT and renewable energy industries. He has also done consulting work in the definition, development and analysis of business plans for start-ups and lectures on Corporate Finance topics at various institutions.
Alfredo Soriano has a law degree with further education in finance, and is a member of the Madrid Bar Association.
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A look at The Clinton Foundation with Bruce Woodhull, author
Guest: Bruce Woodhull, author………..his latest book is ‘Omaha in the time of the saints’……..we will look at The Clinton Foundation and its operations……….the AP story that donors got appointments with Secretary of State Clinton……….the idea of a former President running around the world collecting money from any regime regardless of their views on human rights……….was it a Foundation or an organization created to buy access to a future Clinton administration?
Click below to listen:
Source: A look at The Clinton Foundation with Bruce Woodhull, author 08/25 by Silvio Canto Jr | News Podcasts
Tagged with Clinton and the Clinton Foundation
1962: Little Eva and “The locomotion” was # 1 this week
How about being at the right place at the right time?
Eva Narcissus Boyd, also known as “Little Eva” had the # 1 song in the country. It turned out to be her only hit. She died in 2003.
“The locomotion” was a dance song from a time when we did a lot of dancing:
Guess who is coming to dinner with Raul Castro!
As the world turns, we are watching some rather amazing things in year 8 of “hope and change”:
First, kids are killed in Aleppo and those lives don’t seem to matter to anyone, especially anyone at the Obama White House;
Two, Russian planes are taking off from Iranian bases;
Third, Cuban dissidents are in jail rather than doing the wave at a baseball game; and,
Fourth, Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif is starting off his tour of Latin America with a stop in Havana. (By the way, Raul Castro will greet this visitor at the airport. Unlike President Obama, who was greeted by a low-level Cuban official, the Iranian visitor will get to shake hands with Raul.)
Is this how we were supposed to be respected around the world? Or is this the smart foreign policy that we were promised?
Let’s take a look:
Iran’s foreign minister kicked off a Latin American tour Sunday in Havana, saying the Iran nuclear deal has “removed obstacles” for closer ties between his country and the region.
Foreign Minister Javad Zarif will visit Cuba, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia and Venezuela, reported the Tasnim News Agency.
Zarif said he plans to sign oil, energy and maritime transport agreements during his tour.
But the visit is raising concerns with a key Republican lawmaker.
“The timing of Zarif’s trip is significant as Iran could use many of these rogue regimes to circumvent remaining sanctions, undermine U.S. interests, and expand the drug trafficking network that helps finance its illicit activities,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) in a statement.
“Tehran’s classic playbook is to use cultural centers, new embassies or consulates, or cooperative agreements on various areas to act as façades aimed at expanding Iran’s radical extremist network.”
Save for Chile, the countries Zarif is visiting align with the region’s ideological left and tend to have difficult relations with the United States.
So the Iran nuclear deal has removed obstacles for Iran to develop relations with anti-U.S. regimes in Latin America? Nobody told me that that was one of the objectives of the deal. I always understood that it was to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon rather turn it into an international power using its new found wealth to cut deal with cash starved regimes in Cuba and Venezuela.
Don’t you love this new smart foreign policy? I can’t wait to see Javad do the wave with Raul in Cuba! It will be fun to watch Raul in Cuba and Madero in Venezuela explain baseball to their new friend!
Tagged with Iran in Latin America
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Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 104 › Smelting Company v. Kemp
Smelting Company v. Kemp, 104 U.S. 636 (1881)
Smelting Company v. Kemp
1. A patent, duly signed, countersigned, and sealed, for public lands which, at the time it was issued, the Land Department had, under the statute, authority to convey cannot be collaterally impeached in an action at law, and the finding of the department touching the existence of certain facts, or the performance of certain antecedent acts, upon which the lawful exercise of that authority may in a particular case depend, cannot in a court of law be questioned.
2. If in the issuing of a patent the officers of that department take mistaken views of the law, or draw erroneous conclusions from the evidence, or act from either imperfect views of duty or corrupt motives, the party aggrieved cannot set up such matters in a court of law to defeat the patent. He must resort to a court of equity, where he can obtain relief, if his rights are injuriously affected by the existence of the patent, and he possesses such equities as will control the legal title vested in the patentee. A stranger to the title cannot complain of the act of the government in regard thereto.
3. A defendant in ejectment claimed adversely to the title to a placer mining claim, derived from a patent of the United States bearing date March 29, 1879, which describes, by metes and bounds, the premises, containing one hundred and sixty-four acres and sixty one-hundredths of an acre, more or less. Held that he cannot put in evidence the proceedings in the Land Department for the purpose of showing that the patent was issued upon a single application, including several mining locations, some made after the passage of the Act of July 9, 1870, c. 235, 16 Stat. 217, limiting the location of one person or an association of persons to one hundred and sixty acres, and others made after the passage of the Act of May 10, 1872, c. 152, 17 id. 91, limiting a location to twenty acres for each individual applicant.
4. A patent issued subsequently to the passage of the said act of 1870 may embrace a placer mining claim consisting of more than one hundred and sixty acres, and including as many adjoining locations as the patentee had purchased. The proceedings to obtain a patent therefor are the same as when the claim covers but one location.
5. The terms "location " and "mining claim" defined.
6. Labor and improvements, within the meaning of the statute, are deemed to have been put on a mining claim, whether it consists of one or more locations, when the labor was performed or the improvements were made for its development, though in fact such labor and improvements may be on ground which originally constituted only one of the locations, or may be at a distance from the claim.
This was an action at law brought in one of the courts of Colorado by the St. Louis Smelting and Refining Company, a corporation created under the laws of Missouri, for the possession of a parcel of land in the City of Leadville. On application
of the defendants it was removed to the circuit court of the United States. The complaint is in the usual form of actions for the possession of real property under the practice obtaining in Colorado. It alleges that the plaintiff was duly incorporated, with power to purchase and hold real estate; that it was the owner in fee and entitled to the possession of the premises mentioned, describing them, and that the defendants wrongfully withheld them, to the damage of the plaintiff of $5,000.
The defendants filed an answer admitting that the plaintiff was incorporated as averred, but denying that it was the owner in fee of the demanded premises, or that they were wrongfully detained from its possession, or that it had sustained any damage. The answer also alleged that the plaintiff, as a foreign corporation, was incompetent to acquire title to any real estate in Colorado, except such as might be necessary for the transaction of its business as a smelting and refining company, and that the premises in controversy were not necessary for that purpose, but were acquired for speculation.
The plaintiff filed a replication denying its incompetency to hold real estate as alleged, and averring that it was authorized, under the laws of Missouri, to buy, sell, and deal in real estate for any purpose whatever; that the property in controversy was acquired as a site for smelting and reduction works, and that such works were afterwards erected upon it and used for reducing and smelting silver ores.
The case was tried in November, 1879. To maintain the issues on its part the plaintiff offered in evidence a patent of the United States to Thomas Starr, dated March 29, 1879, for mining ground, which, it was admitted, included the premises in controversy. The patent recited that pursuant to provisions of chapter six of title thirty-two of the Revised Statutes, there had been deposited in the General Land Office the plat and field notes of the placer mining claim of Thomas Starr, the patentee, accompanied by a certificate of the register of the land office at Fairplay, Colorado, within which district the premises are situated; that Starr had, on the 6th of March, 1879, entered an application for the said claim, which contained one hundred and sixty-four acres of land and sixty-one hundredths of an acre, more or less. The patent also specified the boundaries
of the tract according to the field notes, and contained the recitals and words of grant and transfer usually inserted in patents for place mining land. To the introduction of this patent the defendants objected; but the record does not state on what grounds the objection was founded, and it was overruled. The patent was accordingly admitted in evidence. The plaintiff traced title to the land by sundry mesne conveyances from the patentee. It also introduced the certificate of the register of the same land office, showing that the application of Starr at that office to enter and pay for his claim was made on the 18th of March, 1878; also a copy of the articles of incorporation of the plaintiff, and of the laws of Missouri under which the incorporation was had, and proved that, in 1877, prior to the existence of the town of Leadville, the company purchased of the claimant the tract embraced in the patent, for the purpose of erecting reduction works thereon, and that at the time of the purchase and when it commenced the construction of the works the land was unoccupied by other parties.
The plaintiff having rested its case, the defendants offered in evidence a certified copy of the record of proceedings in the General Land Office at Washington, upon which Starr obtained his patent; to the introduction of which the plaintiff objected, on the ground that it could only show or tend to show the regularity or irregularity of the proceedings before the executive department in obtaining the patent, or the validity or invalidity of the possessory title or preemption right upon which the patent was founded, and that no evidence could be introduced to impeach the patent or attack it collaterally, or in any way affect it in this action. But the court overruled the objection and admitted the record. To this ruling an exception was taken.
The case being closed, the court instructed the jury substantially as follows: that a patent for a mining claim, since the passage of the act of Congress of 1870, could not embrace more than one hundred and sixty acres; that individuals and associations were, by that act, put upon the same footing, and that either might take that amount, but that by the mining act of Congress of 1872 an individual claimant was limited to twenty acres, whilst an association of persons could still take
one hundred and sixty, as before; that the proceedings in the land office were allowed in evidence in order to show whether the patent was issued upon locations made prior to 1870, and that they showed that the claim of Starr was based upon twelve or fifteen locations, some of which were prior to 1870, and some since then, and added, that
"if Mr. Starr was the owner of these claims, if he had obtained them by purchase, and they were valid and regular locations, he would, under the act, be required, if he desired to obtain a patent for them, to make application for each one of them, to post the notice, as required by the statute, and give the publication, and file his plan and survey, and do all these things which are required in the several claims upon each one of them. If he had done so, and his right had been supported as to all of them, and the patent had been issued for all of these claims, and each of them described in the patent, there would have been no objection to the patent; but it was not competent for him to consolidate these claims and put them all in as one claim, and upon notice given as one claim, and publication as one claim, and proceeding throughout as one claim embracing 164 acres,"
and that the officers of the Land Department had no authority, in law, to proceed in that way and, therefore, the patent upon which the plaintiff relied was void and its title failed.
To the instructions given, exceptions were taken. The jury thereupon found for the defendants, and judgment in their favor was accordingly entered. To review this judgment the plaintiff has brought the case to this court on writ of error.
ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED
STATES FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
MR. JUSTICE FIELD, after stating the case as above, delivered the opinion of the Court as follows:
As seen by the statement of the case, the plaintiff relies for a reversal of the judgment upon three grounds: 1. error in
admitting the record of the proceedings of the land office to impeach the validity of the patent to Starr issued upon them; 2. error in instructing the jury that a patent for a placer claim, since the Act of 1870, could not embrace in any case more than one hundred and sixty acres; and 3. error in instructing the jury that the owner by purchase of several claims must take separate proceedings upon each one in order to obtain a valid patent, and that it was not lawful for him to prosecute a single application upon a consolidation of several claims into one, nor for the land officers to allow such application and to issue a patent thereon.
We are of opinion that these several grounds are well taken and that, in each particular mentioned, the court below erred.
The patent of the United States is the conveyance by which the nation passes its title to portions of the public domain. For the transfer of that title, the law has made numerous provisions, designating the persons who may acquire it and the terms of its acquisition. That the provisions may be properly carried out, a land department, as part of the administrative and executive branch of the government, has been created to supervise all the various proceedings taken to obtain the title, from their commencement to their close. In the course of their duty, the officers of that department are constantly called upon to hear testimony as to matters presented for their consideration, and to pass upon its competency, credibility and weight. In that respect, they exercise a judicial function and therefore it has been held in various instances by this court that their judgment as to matters of fact, properly determinable by them, is conclusive when brought to notice in a collateral proceeding. Their judgment in such cases is, like that of other special tribunals upon matters within their exclusive jurisdiction, unassailable except by a direct proceeding for its correction or annulment. The execution and record of the patent are the final acts of the officers of the government for the transfer of its title, and as they can be lawfully performed only after certain steps have been taken, that instrument, duly signed, countersigned and sealed, not merely operates to pass the title, but is in the nature of an official declaration by that branch of government to which the alienation of the public
lands, under the law, is entrusted, that all the requirements preliminary to its issue have been complied with. The presumptions thus attending it are not open to rebuttal in an action at law. It is this unassailable character which gives to it its chief, indeed its only, value as a means of quieting its possessor in the enjoyment of the lands it embraces. If intruders upon them could compel him in every suit for possession to establish the validity of the action of the Land Department and the correctness of its ruling upon matters submitted to it, the patent, instead of being a means of peace and security, would subject his rights to constant and ruinous litigation. He would recover one portion of his land if the jury were satisfied that the evidence produced justified the action of that department, and lose another portion, the title whereto rests upon the same facts, because another jury came to a different conclusion. So his rights in different suits upon the same patent would be determined, not by its efficacy as a conveyance of the government, but according to the fluctuating prejudices of different jurymen, or their varying capacities to weigh evidence. Moore v. Wilkinson, 13 Cal. 478; Beard v. Federy, 3 Wall. 478, 70 U. S. 492.
Of course, when we speak of the conclusive presumptions attending a patent of lands, we assume that it was issued in a case where the department had jurisdiction to act and execute it -- that is to say, in a case where the lands belonged to the United States, and provision had been made by law for their sale. If they never were public property, or had previously been disposed of, of if Congress had made no provision for their sale, or had reserved them, the department would have no jurisdiction to transfer them, and its attempted conveyance of them would be inoperative and void, no matter with what seeming regularity the forms of law may have been observed. The action of the department would in that event be like that of any other special tribunal not having jurisdiction of a case which it had assumed to decide. Matters of this kind, disclosing a want of jurisdiction, may be considered by a court of law. In such cases the objection to the patent reaches beyond the action of the special tribunal, and goes to the existence of a subject upon which it was competent to act.
These views are not new in this Court; they have been, either in express terms or in substance, affirmed in repeated instances. One of the earliest cases on the subject was that of Polk's Lessee v. Wendell, reported in 9th Cranch, where the doctrine we have stated was declared, and the exceptions to it mentioned. There the plaintiff brought an action upon an patent of North Carolina, issued in 1800, for five thousand acres. The defendants relied upon a prior patent of the state for twenty-five thousand acres, issued in 1795 to one Sevier, through whom they claimed. Each patent embraced the lands in controversy, and they were situated in that portion of Tennessee ceded to the United States by North Carolina. On the trial it was contended that the elder patent was void on its face because it covered more than five thousand acres, the limit prescribed for a single entry by the laws of that State. Proof was also offered that the lands had not been entered in the office of the entry-taker of the proper county before their cession to the United States, and it was contended that the patent was therefore invalid. We shall hereafter refer to what the court said as to the alleged excess of quantity in the patent. At present we shall only notice the general doctrine declared as to the admissibility of patents in a court of law, and its decision upon the admissibility of the proof offered. It seems that a statute of 1777 directed the appointment in each county of an officer called an entry-taker, who was required to receive entries of all vacant lands in his county, and, if the lands thus entered were not within the three months claimed by some other party than the person entering them, to deliver to such person a copy of the entry, with its proper number, and an order to the county surveyor to survey the land. This order was called a warrant. Upon it and the survey which followed a patent was issued. If there were no entry, there could be no warrant, and of course no valid patent. The ninth section declared that every right claimed by any person to lands which were not acquired in this mode, or by purchase or inheritance from parties who did so acquire them, or which were obtained in fraud or evasion of the provisions of the act, should be declared void. In 1779, North Carolina ceded to the United States the territory in which the lands lie for which the patent to Sevier
was issued, reserving, however, to the state all existing rights, which were to be perfected according to its laws. The cession was accepted by Congress. The survey, upon which the patent to Sevier was issued, was made in 1795, and the plaintiff, to impeach the patent, offered, as already stated, to show that there had been no entry of the land in the office of the entry-taker of the county where it was situated, previous to the cession; that is, in substance, that the grantor had no authority to make the grant, the land having been previously conveyed to the United States. This offer was disallowed by the court below, and as judgment passed for the defendants, the case was brought to this court, where, as mentioned, the general doctrine as to the presumptions attending a patent, which we have stated, was declared, with the exceptions to it. Upon the general doctrine, the court observed, speaking through Mr. Chief Justice Marshall, that the laws for the sale of the public lands provided many guards to secure the regularity of grants and to protect the incipient rights of individuals and of the state from imposition; that officers were appointed to superintend the business, and rules had been framed prescribing their duty; that these rules in general director, and when all the proceedings were completed by a patent issued by the authority of the state, a compliance with those rules was presupposed, and that "every prerequisite has been performed is an inference properly deducible, and which every man has a right to draw from the existence of the grant itself." "It would, therefore, be extremely unreasonable," said the court,
"to avoid the grant in any court for irregularities in the conduct of those who are appointed by the government to supervise the progressive course of the title from its commencement to its consummation in a patent;"
but there were some things so essential to the validity of a contract, that the great principles of justice and of law would be violated did there not exist some tribunal to which an injured party might appeal, and in which the means by which the elder title was acquired might be examined, and that a court of equity was a tribunal better adapted to this object than a court of law, and it added that
"there are cases in which a grant is absolutely void, as where the state has no title to the thing granted, or where the
officer had no authority to issue the grant. In such cases, the validity of the grant is necessarily examinable at law."
So the court held that proof that no entry had been made in the office of the entry-taker in the country where the lands patented were situated prior to the cession to the United states was admissible under the ninth section, for without such entry they would not be within the reservation mentioned in the act of cession. In other words, proof was admissible to show that the state had not retained control over the property, but had conveyed it to the United states.
In Patterson v. Winn, reported in 11th Wheaton, this case is cited, and, after stating that it decided, the Court said:
"We may therefore assume as the settled doctrine of this Court that if a patent is absolutely void upon its face, or the issuing thereof was without authority, or was prohibited by statute, or the state had no title, it could be impeached collaterally in a court of law in an action of ejectment, but in general other objections and defects complained of must be put in issue in a regular course of pleading in a direct proceeding to avoid the patent."
The doctrine declared in these cases as to the presumptions attending a patent has been uniformly followed by this court. The exceptions mentioned have also been regarded as sound, although from the general language used some of them may require explanation to understand fully the import. If the patent, according to the doctrine, be absolutely void on its face, it may be collaterally impeached in a court of law. It is seldom, however, that the recitals of a patent will nullify its granting clause, as, for instance, that the land which it purports to convey is reserved from sale. Something more, however, than an apparent contradiction in its terms is meant when we speak of a patent being void on its face. It is meant that the patent is seen to be invalid, either when read in the light of existing law, or by reason of what the court must take judicial notice of, as, of course, for instance, that the land is reserved by statute from sale, or otherwise appropriate, or that the patent is for an unauthorized amount, or is executed by officers who are not entrusted by law with the power to issue grants of portions of the public domain.
So, also, according to the doctrine in the cases cited, if the patent be issued without authority, it may be collectively impeached in a court of law. This exception is subject to the qualification, that when the authority depends upon the existence of particular facts, or upon the performance of certain antecedent acts, and it is the duty of the Land Department to ascertain whether the facts exist, or the acts have been performed, its determination is as conclusive of the existence of the authority against any collateral attack, as is its determination upon any matter properly admitted to its decision.
With these explanations, the doctrine of the cases cited may be taken as expressing the law accepted by this court since they were decided. Hoofnagle v. Anderson, 7 Wheat. 212; Boardman v. Lessee of Reed, 6 Pet. 328; Bagnell v. Broderick, 13 Pet. 436; Johnson v. Towsley, 13 Wall. 72; Moore v. Robbins, 96 U. S. 530.
In Johnson v. Towsley, the Court had occasion to consider under what circumstances the action of the Land Department in issuing patents was final, and after observing that it had found no support for the proposition offered in that case by counsel upon certain provisions of a statute, said, speaking by MR. JUSTICE MILLER, that the argument for the finality of such action was
"much stronger when founded on the general doctrine that when the law has confided to a special tribunal the authority to hear and determine certain matters arising in the course of its duties, the decision of that tribunal, within the scope of its authority, is conclusive upon all others."
"That the action of the land office," the Court added,
"in issuing a patent for any of the public land, subject to sale by preemption or otherwise, is conclusive of the legal title, must be admitted on the principle above stated, and in all courts and in all forms of judicial proceedings where this title must control, either by reason of the limited powers of the court or the essential character of the proceeding, no inquiry can be permitted under the circumstances under which it was obtained,"
and then observed that there exists in the courts of equity the power to correct mistakes and relieve against frauds and impositions; and that in cases where it was clear that the officers of the Land Department had by a mistake of the law given to
one man the land which, on the undisputed facts, belonged to another, to give proper relief. The doctrine thus stated was approve in the subsequent case of Moore v. Robbins.
The general doctrine declared may be stated in a different form, thus: a patent, in a court of law, is conclusive as to all matters properly determined by the Land Department, when its action is within the scope of its authority, that is, when it has jurisdiction under the law to convey the land. In that court, the patent is unassailable for mere errors of judgment. Indeed, the doctrine as to the regularity and validity of its acts, where it has jurisdiction, goes so far that if in any circumstances under existing law a patent would be held valid, it will be presumed that such circumstances existed. Thus, in Minter v. Crommelin, reported in 18th Howard, where it appeared that an act of Congress of 1815 had provided into no land reserved to a Creek warrior should be offered for sale by an officer of the Land Department unless specifically directed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and declared that if the Indian abandoned the reserved land it should become forfeited to the United states, a patent was issued for the land, which did not show that the Secretary had ordered it to be sold, and the Court said:
"The rule being that the patent is evidence that all previous steps had been regularly taken to justify making of the patent; and one of the necessary steps here being an order from the Secretary to the register to offer the land for sale because the warrior had abandoned it, we are bound to presume that the order was given. That such is the effect, as evidence, of the patent produced by the plaintiffs was adjudged in the case of Bagnell v. Broderick, 13 Pet. 436, and is not open to controversy anywhere, and the state court was mistaken in holding otherwise."
On the other hand, a patent may be collaterally impeached in any action, and its operation as a conveyance defeated, by showing that the department had no jurisdiction to dispose of the lands; that is, that the law did not provide for selling them, or that they had been reserved from sale or dedicated to special purposes, or had been previously transferred to others. In establishing any of these particulars, the judgment of the department upon matters properly before it is not assailed, nor is
the regularity of its proceedings called into question; but its authority to act at all is denied, and shown never to have existed.
According to the doctrine thus expressed and the cases cited in its support -- and there are none in conflict with it -- there can be no doubt that the court below erred in admitting the record of the proceedings upon which the patent was issued, in order to impeach its validity. The judgment of the department upon their sufficiency was not, as already stated, open to contestation. If in issuing a patent its officers took mistaken views of the law, or drew erroneous conclusions from the evidence, or acted from imperfect views of their duty, or even from corrupt motives, a court of law can afford no remedy to a party alleging equity for relief, and even there his complaint cannot be heard unless he connect himself with the original source of title, so as to be able to aver that his rights are injuriously affected by the existence of the patent; and he must possess such equities as will control the legal title in the patentee's hands. Boggs v. Merced Mining Co., 14 Cal. 279, 363. It does not lie in the mouth of a stranger to the title to complain of the act of the government with respect to it. If the government is dissatisfied, it can, on its own account, authorize proceedings to vacate the patent or limit its operation.
This doctrine as to the conclusiveness of a patent is not inconsistent with the right of the patentee, often recognized by this court, to show the date of the original proceeding for the acquisition of the title, where it is noted stated in the instrument, as the patent is deemed to take effect by relations as of that date, so far as it is necessary to cut off intervening adverse claims. Thus, in a contest between two patentees for the same land, it may be shown that a juror patent was founded upon an earlier entry than an older patent, and therefore passes the title. Such evidence in no way trenches upon the ruling of the department upon matters pending before it. Nor is the doctrine of the conclusiveness of the patent inconsistent with the right of a party resisting it to show, if an entry is not stated in the instrument, that no entry of the land was made as an initiatory proceeding, where a statute, as was the case in
North Carolina, mentioned in Polk's Lessee v. Wendell, declares that proceedings for the title, when such entry has not been made, shall be adjudged invalid. A statute may in any case require proof of a fact which otherwise would be presumed. Except with reference to such anterior matters and others of like character, no one in a court of law can go behind the patent and call in question the validity of the proceedings upon which it is founded.
The case at bar, then, is reduced to the question whether the patent to Starr is void on its face -- that is, whether, read in the light of existing law, it is seen to be invalid. It does not come within any of the exceptions mentioned in the cases cited. The lands it purports to convey are mineral, and were a part of the public domain. The law of Congress had provided for their sale. The proper officers of the Land Department supervised the proceedings. It bears the signature of the President, or rather of the officer authorized by law to place the President's signature to it, which is the same thing; it is properly countersigned, and the seal of the General Land Office is attached to it. It is regular on its face, unless come limitations in the law, as to the extent of a mining claim which can be patented, has been disregarded. The case of the defendants rests on the correctness of their assertion that a patent cannot issue for a mining claim which embraces over one hundred and sixty acres. Assuming that the words "more or less," accompanying the statement of the acres contained in the claim, are to be disregarded, and that the patent is construed as for one hundred and sixty-four acres and a fraction of an acre, there is nothing in the acts of Congress which prohibits the issue of a patent for that amount. They are silent as to the extent to a mining claim. They speak of locations and limit the extent of mining ground which an individual or an association of individuals may embrace in one of them. There is nothing in the reason of the thing, or in the language of the acts, which prevents an individual from acquiring by purchase the ground located by others and adding it to his own. The difficulty with the court below, as seen in its charge, evidently arose from confounding "location" and "mining claim," as though the two terms always represent the same thing, whereas they
often mean very different things. A mining claim is a parcel of land containing precious metal in its soil or rock. A location is the act of appropriating such parcel, according to certain established rules. It usually consists in placing on the ground, in a conspicuous position, a notice setting forth the name of the locator, the fact that it is taken or located, with the requisite description of the extent and boundaries of the parcel, according to the local customs, or, since the statute of 1872, according to the provisions of that act. Rev.Stat., sec. 2324. The location, which is the act of taking the parcel of mineral land, in time became among the miners synonymous with the mining claim originally appropriated. So now if the miner has only the ground covered by one location, "his mining claim" and "location" are identical, and the two designations may be indiscriminately used to denote the same thing. But if by purchase he acquires the adjoining location of his neighbor -- that is, the ground which his neighbor has taken up -- and adds it to his own, then his mining claim covers the ground embraced by both locations, and henceforth he will speak of it as his claim. Indeed, his claim may include as many adjoining locations as he can purchase, and the ground covered by all will constitute what he claims for mining purposes, or in other words will constitute his mining claim, and be so designated. Such is the general understanding of miners and the meaning they attach to the term.
Previously to the Act of July 9, 1870, Congress imposed no limitation to the area which might be included in the location of a placer claim. This, as well as every other thing relating to the acquisition and continued possession of a mining claim, was determined by rules and regulations established by miners themselves. Soon after the discovery of gold in California, as is well known, there was an immense immigraton of gold seekers into that Territory. They spread over the mineral regions and probed the earth in all directions in pursuit of the precious metals. Wherever they went they framed rules prescribing the conditions upon which mining ground might be taken up, on other words, mining claims be located and their continued possession secured. Those rules were so framed as to give to all immigrants absolute equality of right and privilege.
The extent of ground which each might locate, that is, appropriate to himself, was limited so that all might, in the homely and expressive language of the day, have an equal chance in the struggle for the wealth there buried in the earth. But a few months' experience in the precarious and toilsome pursuit drove great numbers of the miners to seek other means of livelihood and fortune, and they therefore disposed of their claims. They never doubted that their rights could be transferred so that the purchaser would hold the claims by an equally good title. Their transferable character was always recognized by the local courts, and the title of the grantee enforced. Many individuals thus became the possessors of claims covering ground taken up by different locations, and the amount which each person or an association of persons might acquire and hold was only limited by his or her means of purchase.
The rules and regulations originally established in California have in their general features been adopted throughout all the mining regions of the United states. They were so wisely framed and were so just and fair in their operation that they have not to any great extent been interfered with by legislation, either state or national. In the first mining statute, passed July 9, 1986, they received the recognition and sanction of Congress, as they had previously the legislative and judicial approval of the states and territories in which mines of gold and silver were found. That act declared, and the declaration was repeated in a subsequent statute, that the mineral lands of the public domain were free and open to occupation and exploration by all citizens of the United states, and by those who had declared their intention to become such, subject to the regulations as might be prescribed by law, and subject, also, "to the local customs or rules of miners of the several mining districts," so far as the same were not in conflict with the laws of the United states. It authorized the issue of patents for claims on veins or lodes of quartz and other "rock in place" bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, or copper. Placer claims first became the subject of regulation by the Mining Act of July 9, 1870, c. 235, 16 Stat. 217, which provided that patents for them might be issued under like circumstances
and conditions as for vein or lode claims, and that persons having contiguous claims of any size might make joint entry thereof. But it also provided that no location of a place claim thereafter made should exceed one hundred and sixty acres for one person or an association of persons. The Mining Act of May 10, 1872, c. 152, 17 id. 91, declared that a location of a placer claim subsequently made should not include more than twenty acres for each individual claimant. These are all the provisions touching the extent of locations of placer claims, and they are reenacted in the Revised Statutes. Secs. 2330, 2331. A limitation is not put upon the sale of the ground located, nor upon the number of locations which may be acquired by purchase, nor upon the number which may be included in a patent. Every interest in lands is the subject of sale and transfer, unless prohibited by statute, and no words allowing it are necessary. In the mining statutes, numerous provisions assume and recognize the salable character of one's interest in a mining claim. Sec. 13 of the act of 1870 declares that where a person or association or their grantors have held and worked claims for a period equal to the time prescribed by the statute of limitations of the state or territory where the same is situated, evidence of such possession and working shall be sufficient to establish the right to a patent. Sec. 5 of the act of 1872, rendering a mining claim subject to relocation where certain conditions of improvement or expenditure have not been made, has a proviso that the original locators, "their heirs, assigns, or legal representatives, have not resumed work upon the claim after such failure and before such location." These provisions are of themselves conclusive that the locator's interest in a mining grant is salable and transferable, even where there any doubt on the subject, in the absence of express statutory prohibition. Those of the act of 1870 are also conclusive of the right of the purchaser of claims to a patent, for it is with reference to it that the derivative right by purchase or assignment is mentioned. Rev.Stat., secs. 2332, 2334.
In addition to all this, it is difficult to perceive what object would be gained, what policy subserved, by a prohibition to embrace in one patent contiguous mining ground taken up by
different locations and subsequently purchased and held by one individual. He can hold as many locations as he can purchase, and rely upon his possessory title. He is protected thereunder as completely as if he held a patent for them subject to the condition of certain annual expenditures upon them in labor or improvements. If he wishes, however, to obtain a patent, he must, in addition to other things, pay the government a fee of five dollars an acre, a sum that would not be increased if a separate patent were issued for each location.
The decision of this court upon one point in the case of Polk's Lessees v. Wendell, already cited, is directly applicable here. The patent to the defendants in that case was for twenty-five thousand acres of land, and one of the objections taken was that it was void because the statute of North Carolina limited an entry of one person to five thousand acres. But the statute declared that where two or more persons had entered, or should afterwards enter, lands jointly, or where two or more persons agreed to have their entries surveyed jointly in one or more surveys, the surveyor should survey the same accordingly in one entire survey. It was contended that as the statute provided for entries made by two or more persons it could not be extended to the case of distinct entries belonging to the same person. To this the Court replied as follows:
"For this distinction it is impossible to conceive a reason. No motive can be imagined for allowing two or more persons to unite their entries in one survey which does not apply with at least as much force for allowing a single person to unite his entries, adjoining each other, in one survey. It appears to the court that the case comes completely within the spirit, and is not opposed by the letter, of the law. The case provided for is 'where two or more persons agree to have their entries surveyed jointly,' &c. Now this does not prevent the subsequent assignment of the entries to one of the parties; and the assignment is itself the agreement of the assignor that the assignee may survey the entries jointly or severally, at his election. The Court is of opinion that under a sound construction of this law, entries, which might be joined in one survey, if remaining the property of two or more person, may be joined, though they become the property of a single person."
The objection
to the patent by reason of its embracing over five thousand acres was accordingly overruled.
By a provision of the Mining Act of 1870, still in force, two or more persons, or association of persons, having contiguous claims of any size, are allowed to make a joint entry thereof. Rev.Stat., sec. 2330. If one individual should acquire all such contiguous claims by purchase, no sound reason can be suggested why he should not be equally entitled to enter them all by one entry as when they were held by the original parties. To quote the language of the case cited,
"No motive can be imagined for allowing two or more persons to unite their entries in one survey which does not apply with at least as much force for allowing a single person to unite his entries adjoining each other in one survey."
The last position of the court below, that the owner of contiguous locations who seeks a patent must present a separate application for each, and obtain a separate survey, and prove that upon each the required work has been performed, is as untenable as the rulings already considered. The object in allowing patents is to vest the fee in the miner, and thus encourage the construction of permanent works for the development of the mineral resources of the country. Requiring a separate application for each location, with a separate survey and notice, where several adjoining each other are held by the same individual, would confer no benefit beyond that accruing to the land officers from an increase of their fees. The public would derive no advantage from it, and the owner would be subjected to onerous and often ruinous burdens. The services of an attorney are usually retained when a patent is sought, and the expenses attendant upon the proceeding are in many instances very great. To lessen these as much as possible the practice has been common for miners to consolidate, by conveyance to a single person or an association or company, many contiguous claims into one, for which only one application is made and of which only one survey is had. Long before patents were allowed -- indeed, from the earliest period in which mining for gold and silver was pursued as a business -- miners were in the habit of consolidating adjoining claims, whether they consisted of one or more original locations,
into one, for convenience and economy in working them. It was therefore very natural, when patents were allowed, that the practice of presenting a single application with one survey of the whole tract should prevail. It was at the outset, and has ever since been, approved by the department, and its propriety has never before been questioned. Patents, we are informed, for mining ground of the value of many millions of dollars, have been issued upon consolidated claims, nearly all of which would be invalidated if the positions assumed by the defendants could be sustained.
It was urged on the argument that a patent for each location was required to prevent a monopoly of mining ground -- to prevent, to use the language of counsel, the public domain from being "monopolized by speculators." The law limiting the extent of mining lands which an individual may locate has provided, so far as it was deemed wise, against an accumulation of them in one person's hands. It could not have prohibited the sale of the location of an individual without imposing a restriction injurious to his interests, and in many instances destructive of the whole value of his claim. Everyone at all familiar with our mineral regions knows that the great majority of claims, whether on lodes or on placers, can be worked advantageously only by a combination among the miners, or by a consolidation of their claims through incorporated companies. Water is essential for the working of mines, and in many instances can be obtained only from great distances, by means of canals, flumes, and aqueducts, requiring for their construction enormous expenditures of money, entirely beyond the means of a single individual. Often, too, for the development of claims, streams must be turned from their beds, dams built, shafts sunk at great depth, and flumes constructed to carry away the debris of the mine. Indeed, successful mining, whether on lode claims or placer claims, can seldom be prosecuted without an amount of capital beyond the means of the individual miner.
These is no force in the suggestion that a separate patent for each location is necessary to insure the required expenditure of labor upon it. The statute of 1872 provides that on each claim subsequently located, until a patent is issued for it,
there shall be annually expended in labor or improvements one hundred dollars; and on claims previously located an annual expenditure of ten dollars for each one hundred feet in length along the vein; but where such claims are held "in common," the expenditure may be upon any one claim. As these provisions relate to expenditures before a patent is issued, proof of them will be a matter for consideration when application for the patent is made. It is not perceived in what way this proof can be changed or the requirement affected, whether the application be for a patent for one claim or for several claims held in common. Labor and improvements, within the meaning of the statute, are deemed to have been had on a mining claim, whether it consists of one location or several, when the labor is performed or the improvements are made for its development, that is, to facilitate the extraction of the metals it may contain, though in fact such labor and improvements may be on ground which originally constituted only one of the locations, as in sinking a shaft, or be at a distance from the claim itself, as where the labor is performed for the turning of a stream, or the introduction of water, or where the improvement consists in the construction of a flume to carry off the debris or waste material. It would be absurd to require a shaft to be sunk on each location in a consolidated claim when one shaft would suffice for all the locations, and yet that is seriously argued by counsel, and must be maintained to uphold the judgment below.
The statutes provide numerous guards against the evasion of their provisions by parties seeking a mining patent, and afford an opportunity to persons in the neighborhood of the claim to come forward and present any objections they may have to the granting of the patent desired. By secs. 6 and 7 of the act of 1872, which constitute secs. 2325 and 2326 of the Revised Statutes, the procedure which a party seeking a patent, whether an individual or an association or a corporation, must follow is prescribed:
1st, the party must file an application in the proper land office under oath, showing a compliance with the law, together with a plat and the field notes of the claim, or "claims in common," made by or under the direction of the Surveyor General
of the United states, showing the boundaries of the claim or claims, which must be distinctly marked by monuments on the ground.
2d, previously, however, to the filing of the application, the claimant must post a copy of the plat, with a notice of his intended application, in a conspicuous place on the land embraced in it, and file an affidavit of at least two persons that such notice has been duly posted with a copy of the notice in the land office.
3d, when such application, plat, field notes, notice, and affidavits have been filed, the register of the land office is required to publish a notice of the application for the period of sixty days, in a newspaper, to be designated by him, nearest to the claim, and post such notice in his office for the same period.
4th, the claimant, at the time of filing his application, or at any time thereafter within sixty days, is required to file with the register a certificate of the United states Surveyor General, that five hundred dollars' worth of labor has been expended, or improvements to that amount have been made upon the claim by himself or grantors; that the plat is correct, with such further description, by reference to natural objects or permanent monuments, as shall identify the claim, and furnish an accurate description to be incorporated in the patent.
5th, at the expiration of sixty days the claimant is required to file his affidavit showing that the plat and notice have been posted in a conspicuous place on the claim during the period of publication. If no adverse claim shall have been filed with the register and receiver of the proper land office within the sixty days of publication, it is then to be assumed that the applicant is entitled to a patent upon the payment to the proper officer of five dollars per acre, and that no adverse claims exists.
6th, the statute then proceeds to declare that if an adverse claim is filed during the period of publication, it must show the nature, boundaries, and extent of such adverse claim; and all proceedings, except the publication of the notice and the making and filing of the affidavit, shall be thereupon stayed until the controversy shall have been settled by a decision of a court of competent jurisdiction, or the adverse claim waived. And it
is made the duty of the adverse claimant, within thirty days after filing his claim, to commence proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction to determine the question of the right of possession, and to prosecute the same with reasonable diligence to final judgment; and a failure to do so is to be deemed a waiver of his adverse claim. After judgment has been rendered in such proceedings, the party entitled to the possession of the claim, or any portion of it, may file a certified copy of the judgment roll with the register of the land office, together with a certificate of the Surveyor General that the requisite amount of labor has been expended or improvements made thereon, and the description required in other cases; and must pay to the receiver five dollars an acre for his claim, together with the proper fees; and then the whole proceedings and the judgment roll are to be certified by the register to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and a patent thereupon issued for the claim, or such portion thereof as the applicant, by the decision of the court, shall appear to be entitled to.
It will thus be seen that if an adverse claim is made to the mining ground for which a patent is sought, its validity must be determined by a local court, unless it be waived, before a patent can be issued. There would seem, therefore, to be more cogent reasons, in cases where a patent for such ground is relied upon, to maintain the doctrine which we have declared, that it cannot be assailed in a collateral proceeding, than in the case of a patent for agricultural land.
But it is unnecessary to pursue the subject further. The judgment of the court below must be reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial, and it is
So ordered.
MR. JUSTICE MILLER and MR. JUSTICE HARLAN dissented.
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Books Swarthmore Review
Book review: 24/7
March 27, 2014 Thomas Ruan 0 Comment 24/7, capitalism, Jonathan Crary, sleep
In “Digital Witness,” the first single of St. Vincent’s latest album, Annie Clark laments over a throbbing array of guitars: “What’s the point of even sleeping? / If I can’t show it, you can’t see me. / What’s the point of doing anything?” What Clark is not too subtly satirizing here is our seemingly endless need to catalogue everything online, on Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr. It may sound like a hackneyed point by now, but the fact still remains that social media breeds a compulsive need to share even the smallest details with our “friends.” At least when we masturbate in real life, we have the decency to do it privately.
When I first heard “Digital Witness,” I was reminded of the personalised videos that Facebook made for each of its users on its tenth anniversary: here’s your first status update, here are the most popular photos you’ve uploaded since then, here are all the important memories you’ve laid bare on the internet. What I found so disturbing about these videos was the uncanny contradiction between the nostalgia they created and their manufactured quality. At first glance, your personalised video seemed so sweet and thoughtful. What became quickly apparent, though, is that even though the video had your photos and information in it, it really wasn’t about you at all. The videos were less a celebration of any individual person’s life than they were a big pat on the back for the website’s penetration into our everyday life – “Look at how deeply a part of your existence we’ve become,” Facebook seemed to be saying, “we’ve always been with you, and we always will be.”
It is this “always-on” nature of our contemporary society that Jonathan Crary’s “24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep” targets. Rather than reiterate the tired point that the modern world is experiencing a rapid disintegration of genuine interpersonal connection, Crary focuses on what he calls “24/7,” “a generalised inscription of human life into duration without breaks, defined by a principle of continuous functioning. It is a time that no longer passes, beyond clock time.” 24/7 markets and networks have existed before. What is new are the ways in which the 24/7 world is beginning to force people to conform their personal and social identities to its relentless tempo. 24/7 environments do not recognise the natural rhythms of the people that live in them. They seem social and organic, but are mechanistic, forming what Crary calls “a suspension of living.” 24/7 is an abandonment of any idea of progress; it is a “pure” capitalism that is driven only by its own reproduction. It is driven by “more,” with no regard for the fragility of human lives, or nature. In this way, 24/7 is intimately connected to an insatiable hunger for resources that disrupts the cycles and seasons of nature. 24/7 is not merely accompanied by ecological collapse, the two are complicit. If 21st century capitalism won’t stop for people, why would it stop for the rainforests of Brazil or the polar ice caps?
Against all this stands sleep. Capitalism has had little trouble commodifying and commercialising many of the other necessities of human life – hunger, sexual desire, and the need to interact with others. However, “the stunning, inconceivable reality is that nothing of value can be extracted from sleep.” While we sleep, we don’t buy, sell, or make anything. For an average of six and a half hours a night, 24/7 is suspended and the logic of unend-
ing capitalism is put on pause. As hard as 24/7 may try, the best it can do to sleep is stunt or diminish it. Beeping mobile devices are constantly vying for our attention, and Crary cites recent research that shows that the number of people waking themselves up in the night to check their messages is growing rapidly. In a fully 24/7 world, we wouldn’t need to take a break from the relentless process of producing and consuming. But at the end of the day, we just have to sleep. Or do we? Crary observes that scientists at the US Defense Department have been studying migratory birds to understand how their brains can withstand journeys that can last up to seven days without rest. Their goal is to change the brain chemistry in humans so that they can forgo sleep for long periods and remain productive – creating, in other words, super-soldiers who don’t need to interrupt their missions in order to sleep. It is not a jump to imagine this same kind of technology being used on civilians to create sleepless consumers, or workers. “24/7”’s horrifying vision of the future is one in which humans are fully integrated into a nonstop cycle of capitalism – one that never rests, never sleeps.
One of the central images of 24/7 is a network of screens—whether on a television, computer, or smartphone—that are constantly plugged in, producing an unearthly light that is always shining in our faces. Crary’s descriptions of the overbright glare of 24/7 immediately bring to mind Michel Foucault’s discussion in “Discipline and Punish” of a Panopticon prison, wherein light is constantly shining at prisoners who never know if they are being watched or not. 24/7, in its careful uncovering of counter-histories that oppose the main narrative of progress, has quite a lot in common with Foucault’s work on disciplinary societies. However, Crary specifically emphasises that 24/7 is far more insidious than anything “Discipline and Punish” proposes. The French philosopher Gilles Deleuze had already pointed out that the limit of Foucault’s concept of the disciplinary society was that within it there still exist substantial periods of time in which we are not being disciplined. In everyday life, we are free to think and do as we please. What distinguishes 24/7 from the disciplinary society is that 24/7 doesn’t allow for “everyday life”—the time of discipline has extended to all hours of the clock. This is why sleep poses such a powerful challenge to it: you cannot discipline a sleeper.
The political theorist Hannah Arendt proposed that a fundamental component of a productive civic life is the balance between what she called the private and public realms. It is necessary to have some time to oneself, to reflect and restore, so that one can fully participate politically in the public sphere. 24/7, however, eats away at this private time. We are constantly barraged with information, and requests for more information, by devices that grow increasingly intrusive with each iteration. Crary marks the introduction of the television into households as the beginning of this trend. The more advanced technology gets, the deeper it penetrates into our everyday life and the more attention it demands from us: TV gives way to VHS, which is then superseded by personal computers, then smartphones, Google Glass, and so forth. The irony of all this is that as new technology becomes more invasive, we become more willing to devote more of our time and energy to it. In a sense, Crary is charting just one way in which contemporary society is fulfilling Foucault’s terrifying warning of a society in which disciplinary institutions are irrelevant simply because everybody disciplines themselves.
One of the main paradoxes of 24/7 is that it is when we spend time engaging with online “friends” and “communities” that we are most alone and isolated. As the drive to stay plugged in intensifies, so does our estrangement from one another. Crary stresses that the instantaneous and always-on nature of a 24/7 lifestyle makes it far more detrimental than anything we’ve encountered before. He sees blogging as the prime example of this: millions of people chattering away, with nobody really engaging with anyone else because they’re all too busy being consumed with their own thoughts. There’s no need to wait and hear what someone else has to say, because you can instantaneously spout your own opinion—a dangerous threat to “the individual patience and deference that are essential to any form of direct democracy.” Reading this with February’s controversy surrounding Robert George and Cornel West still on my mind, the immediate question arose: to what extent has 24/7 influenced the way we interact with each other here on campus? It can be comforting to think of Swarthmore as a safe haven from the ravages that Crary describes—a place of community, where people care about what others have to say. However, it’s hard not to see elements of 24/7 everywhere you look: students pulling all-nighters to write essays, texting in class, or making the performative trek to McCabe to browse Facebook somewhere outside their dorm. I remember a tour guide telling me that the Crum woods has wifi—does anybody else find that unsettling?
How about ITS requiring every computer on its network to install something creepily called Bradford Persistent Agent? While President Chopp waxes lyrical on liberal arts institutions producing a new generation of thinkers, is there also a certain sense in which they are preparing us for entry into a more properly 24/7 world?
Unfortunately, Crary occasionally gets carried away by his forceful rhetoric, and in places his argument devolves into preachy romanticism. He is correct to be wary of technology, especially given unfortunate trends of techno-fetishism (think Ray Kurzweil or Larry Page) that are, just like the 24/7 society, blind to the human costs of technological advancement. However, his dismissive attitude towards the internet seems unfounded and hasty. For example, he warns us that the increasing encroachment of the internet on our daily lives—usually through the conduit of always-on smartphones—will lead to a situation where “real-life activities that do not have an online correlate begin to atrophy, or cease to be relevant.” Really? Later, he claims that any counter-cultural movement that has its roots in social media will ultimately be useless at seriously disrupting the encroachment of the 24/7 into our world. It is misguided to just whole-handedly dismiss the radical potential of turning technologies of domination against their intended purposes.
Regardless, “24/7” paints a powerful image of sleep as a site of potential resistance. Despite everything, sleep still stands as a safe haven from the “shallow subjectivities” that we are constantly engaging with during the day. When we sleep, we relinquish our obsessive focus on ourselves. In its continuous insistence on its own valuelessness, sleep provides one of the most stubborn challenges to a fully 24/7 world. It models a kind of collectivity that neoliberal capitalism has increasingly tried to limit and deny. Crary rhapsodizes: “The restorative inertness of sleep counters the deathliness of all the accumulation, financialisation, and waste that have devastated anything once held in common.” In his view, the revolution will not be televised, tweeted, or reblogged—it will begin in bedrooms, peacefully and with some snoring. To sleep is, perchance, to dream of an alternative to 24/7.
← A grand hotel, worthy of a weekend trip
Healing and finding happiness with Kaitlyn Ramirez ’17 →
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Written by Tales from the Neon Beach January 3, 2019 May 25, 2019
Twelve Monkeys, 1995: My Journey into Science-Fiction Part 10, Baby it’s Cold and Uninhabitable Outside.
Hello and welcome to Part 10 of my Journey into Science Fiction. The Beatles Yellow Submarine and Twelve Monkeys, what exactly links these two films together? Well, have a read of that post below to find out! As soon as I decided to revisit Twelve Monkeys, I wondered what I had let myself in for, only because this film was really confusing to watch the first time around. I only hope I grasped it a bit better for today’s look back at the Terry Gilliam directed dystopian tale.
Yellow Submarine: My Journey into Science-Fiction Part 9. Sailing the Seas of Time.
Terry Gilliam has always managed to make a film look visually beautiful, none of that talent is left out as we are introduced to a dystopian future landscape that uses present-day architecture, steampunk and gothic elements to create this almost catastrophic feeling and mood within the film. James Cole Bruce Willis is introduced as a volunteer, but for what? Well after a nice hot shower and a pleasant walk outside, he is cleared for quarantine and we slowly begin to find out. James has a criminal past but is given the opportunity to help bring humanity back to the surface of the Earth again, but how?
Baltimore – April 1990 and James Cole is in now in a police cell and rambling and about the year 1996! Dr Kathryn Railly Madeleine Marie Stowe who is also present at the police station has no choice but to section James and send him to the local lunatic asylum. Once there James is to be shown around his new dwellings by long-time patient Jeffrey Goines Brad Pitt. I really love how this part of the film is shot, twisted camera angles and crazy sound effects come from the loony tunes cartoon on the television and it almost reminds me of the 66 Batman TV show in a way. James is given the chance to prove his sanity in front of a board of psychiatrists and for some reason, they don’t believe his story of events that have not yet unfolded, back to the asylum it is. Maybe he should just buy some fluffy bunny slippers and relax a bit.
So locked up, drugged up and nowhere to go, James decides to himself that the human race deserved to be wiped out. All that is until his good friend and cell buddy Jeffrey decides he can help him escape his current living arrangements. The plan to escape goes wrong, a nurse has a fractured skull and James is strapped to a bed in a secure cell and still, Dr Railly has a feeling all is not what it seems with James. It seems she has a point as her patient has managed to free himself of his shackles within a secure cell and disappear.
So we know James is a time traveller but his time travel crew have sent him to the wrong time, so decide he deserves another chance. Well, let’s hope they get it right this time . . . . . . World War One, no, that’s not right? Baltimore 1996 feels a lot better. The Doomsday Syndrome? Dr Railly’s new book, now available at all major outlets. Dr Railly has been doing some research and it turns out James isn’t the only one who claims to be from the future and in the war James just visited there was an English-speaking man, also claiming to be from a future timeline.
James Cole, now back in 1996, also in the back of Dr Railly’s car, I think we can call her Kathryn from now on, kidnaps her to help him track down the Twelve Monkeys in Philadelphia. What are the Twelve Monkeys? Well, a few paint splashes on the tarmac and walls leads to an army of animal activists that are run by non-other than James’s cell friend Jeffrey Goines. These activists believe they are fighting against humanity’s destruction of the environment.
Is this the cause of the disaster that ruins the planet for mankind? James decides to confront Jeffrey at the home of his father, who is, by the way, one of the world’s leading virologists! Another curve ball is thrown as it turns out it was James who mentioned the destruction of humanity when he was high on medicated drugs in the asylum, Jeffrey just adapted his story slightly. Turns out the Twelves Monkeys were never destined to wipe out humanity anyway, but set release all the animals from the local zoo and place Jeffrey’s dad in a cage.
So, who is responsible for the virus outbreak? Well, it turns out that it was an employee of Dr Leland Goines and there is more? Zoologist Simon Jones is also a fan of Kathryn’s work and her book, shown in a scene earlier as he gets a signed copy from her! It turns out that it is Simon who plans to release the virus via a tour of several cities in the US. Throughout the film, we witness a flashback and it turns out that flashback belongs to a young James. We watch as Zoologist Simon enter the airport to set upon releasing the virus to the World. The James we have watched in the movie does not manage to save the day but leave enough information in his younger self to see what needs to do when he is older . . . . . . I think?
So, this is where my brain goes into overtime! Is this some kind of time loop and how can it be broken? What I mean is what come first? Was it the virus because that only comes from an idea from The Doomsday book, or was it someone from the future who messed up the timeline? I love a film that leaves me with these questions though as it seems that each event is needed just as much as the other to complete this tale. There are so many more wonderful elements and plot twists to this film that I haven’t discussed but there is only so much you can fit into a review but I loved it. What a great film and one I really enjoyed revisiting after so long, Yeah, Back to The Future is wonderful but something like this really highlights just how messed up real-time travel could be. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yeah, I did notice one of the time travel crew on the plane with Simon? This leaves me with another question, why is he there, to kill Simon or work with him or did James manage to get his message to the future? I am really enjoying going back and watching these films as its a time when CGI was in its infancy and the sets had to be real, yes it can make the film look smaller but the authenticity is worth it. Also, the cast in this is wonderful and one of the best performances ever by Bruce Willis for me. What a ride.
What next for Part 11 of my Journey into Science-Fiction? Okay, I’m going to keep this one simple as this is a film I have never watched before and always wanted too. The composer for the soundtrack of Twelve Monkeys is Paul Buckmaster, who also worked with David Bowie for the film The Man Who Fell to Earth in 1976. So, there you go, I’m a huge Bowie fan but this film has eluded me for long enough., it was only a matter of time before I would get to see it. Thank you for reading and I really hope you come back for my next review as I dig deeper into the world of Science-Fiction.
Posted in Uncategorized.Tagged #TwelveMonkeys #Science-Fiction #Dystopia.
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Sport Liverpool vs Manchester United EPL Preview
By Tatts Editorial Staff |
Daniel Sturridge has been in good goalscoring form. Image courtesy of sportinglife.co.uk
After a dreadful start to last season, Liverpool has hit the ground running this campaign with back-to-back 1-0 victories against Stoke City and Aston Villa thanks to goals from Daniel Sturridge on both occasions . Admittedly, it has been a relatively soft start to the season, but after a baptism of fire in his first year in charge of the Reds, Brendan Rogers will be well pleased with six points in the bag already. A relatively strong line-up struggled to deal with Notts County in the Capital One Cup midweek, giving up a 2-0 halftime lead as the League One side forced in the game in to extra time. Liverpool eventually prevailed 4-2 after the added half-hour.
Manchester United opened its campaign with a handy 4-1 disposal of Swansea at Liberty Stadium, but all eyes were on Old Trafford earlier this week as Jose Mourinho and Chelsea paid a visit. Despite a history of high-scoring encounters, neither team really cut loose as the sides played out an uneventful scoreless draw. Wayne Rooney appears set to stay at the club for the meantime, with the England forward admitting he won’t get a transfer until the next window opens.
United travels to Anfield having not lost an away match in the Premier League since their shock defeat at Carrow Road against Norwich City last December. The last three times these teams have met, United has come away with the three points courtesy of 2-1 wins. Anfield hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for the Red Devils of late, though, as Liverpool has won three and drawn one of the past five at the famous ground.
In nine of the last ten EPL clashes between these sides, both teams have found the back of the net . Liverpool’s defence was rock solid towards the end of last season keeping clean sheets in five of its last seven games at home .
Click here to bet on English Premier League matches
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Ancestors in the War
MN in Civil War
Monthly Meeting Registration
Join the Table
Symposium Registration
American Civil War education, preservation and restoration
The round table meets on the third Tuesday of the month from September through May, except April, at the Knights of Columbus, 1114 American Boulevard West, Bloomington, MN 55420, for members and their guests. Social hour starts at 5:45 pm followed by dinner and a speaker at 6:30 pm. If you are not yet a member please see Join the Table for more information or contact Carol VanOrnum, Treasurer, at info@tccwrt.com.
For a more complete description of the program, and a speaker bio, click on the presentation title.
2019-2020 Guest Speaker Schedule
September 17, 2019: “When Georgia Howled: Sherman’s Destruction of Atlanta” – Stephen Davis
“When Georgia Howled: Sherman’s Destruction of Atlanta”
– Stephen Davis
Steve Davis of Atlanta spoke to the Twin Cities CWRT back in November 2004 on Sherman and the destruction of Atlanta. Since then two big things have happened: PowerPoint slides, and his book on the subject, published in 2012: What the Yankees Did to Us: Sherman’s Bombardment and Wrecking of Atlanta.
Steve will be surveying the Federal artillery bombardment of the city, July 20-August 25, 1864; the damage to Atlanta buildings inflicted during the Union occupation, September 2-November 16; and Northern engineers’ demolition of railroad facilities (plus soldiers’ unauthorized arson) in the days before Sherman led his army toward the sea.
Stephen Davis of Atlanta has been a Civil War buff since the 4th grade. At Emory University, he studied under the renowned Civil War historian Bell Wiley. After a Master’s degree in American history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he taught high school for a few years, then earned his Ph.D. at Emory, where he concentrated on the theme of the Civil War in Southern literature. He’s also taught at Oglethorpe University.
Now retired, Steve serves as Book Review Editor for Civil War News, the monthly national newspaper for buffs, for which he contributes a regular column, “Critic’s Corner.”
October 15, 2019: “How Northern Financial Decisions Won the Civil War” – Matthew Borowick
“How Northern Financial Decisions Won the Civil War”
– Matthew Borowick
Wars are, it is believed, won and lost by the actions of generals and armies. However, those armies will not fight unless they are properly trained, equipped and fed. Doing that takes the efficient management of resources. The effective management of resources takes good planning and the intelligent allocation of those resources. Although perhaps not as glamorous a topic as battles and armies, the issue of how the North and the South managed their resources provides a fascinating look into why one side succeeded – and the other side failed. One side effectively managed its resources while the other, beholden to an outdated way of thinking, could not adapt, with grave consequences.
Matthew Borowick’s presentation on Civil War Economics is an overview of how the North and the South managed their finances in order to prosecute the war on the battlefield. The presentation provides a thorough overview of an often overlooked topic and will leave even the most informed Civil War students with insight into a part of the War they have likely not known. Matthew’s purpose in this presentation is to provide an overview of a relatively unknown aspect of the War but one that had incredible consequences for each side.
Matthew Borowick has had a lifelong interest in the American Civil War, dating back to his days as a first-grader when he took his copy of “The Golden Book of the Civil War” to school daily. In 1992 he joined the Robert E. Lee Civil War Round Table of Central New Jersey, serving as its newsletter editor, advisory board member and webmaster. Later, he helped establish the Civil War Library and Research Center and was its first Executive Director. Today, Matt is a regular columnist for the well-regarded Civil War News, serving as the author of “Round Table Review”, which describes best practices of Civil War round tables from throughout the country. In 2010, he authored and published The Civil War Round Table Handbook – The Indispensable Guide to Running Yours Right, which is available on Kindle at Amazon.com. He serves as a volunteer at Manassas National Battlefield Park. Matt earned a B.A. in Economics and an MBA in Finance from Seton Hall University and is employed by Seton Hall as its Interim Vice President for Advancement. He and his wife Kathy, who has been to more Civil War battlefields than she cares to admit, live in Monmouth Junction, NJ with their four children.
November 19, 2019: “Murfreesboro: Nathan Bedford Forrest, The Third Minnesota, and “Fake” History” – Joe Fitzharris
“Murfreesboro: Nathan Bedford Forrest,
The Third Minnesota, and “Fake” History”
– Joe Fitzharris
The Third Minnesota was surrendered to Forrest at Murfreesboro on Sunday, 13 July 1862. This event gave rise to at least three “fake” histories of the event. Based on extensive research, the true history is quite different. This is a book talk with readings from Joe’s The Hardest Lot of Men…;” the Third Minnesota Infantry in the Civil War (Oklahoma, 2019).
A Past President and Director of the TCCWRT, Joe is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of St. Thomas, and edited Patton’s Fighting Bridge Builders: Company B of the 1303rd Engineer General Service Regiment (Texas A&M) which was a finalist for the 2007 Army Historical Foundation’s Writing Award for unit histories, memoirs, etc.
December 17, 2019: Fredericksburg: “It is well that war is so terrible, or we would grow too fond of it.” -John D. Cox
Fredericksburg: “It is well that war is so terrible,
or we would grow fond of it.” – John D. Cox
With the slaughter of the Battle of Fredericksburg before him on Telegraph Hill, Confederate General Robert E. Lee touched his “old warhorse” General Longstreet on the arm and said, “It is well that war is so terrible, or we would grow too fond of it.” Over 12,500 Union soldiers lay as casualties on the field along with 6,000 Confederates. The plan of Union Major General Ambrose Burnside had failed, like others before him and President Abraham Lincoln was disgraced again. Lee had won a great victory. Yet, the Battle of Fredericksburg, fought on December 13, 1862, resolved nothing and the war would go on. Author/Historian John D. Cox will give his account of this famous fight, perhaps the most lopsided of the war, which witnessed the first contested river crossing in American military history and the first serious urban warfare of the American Civil War.
John D. Cox is a writer, an artist and public speaker. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran and former Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg National Military Park. He lives in Minneapolis, MN, with his wife Barbara.
January 21, 2020: “Artists in Residence – Gettysburg” – Dave Geister and Pat Bauer
“Artists in Residence – Gettysburg”
– Dave Geister and Pat Bauer
Dave Geister and Pat Bauer will provide an entertaining evening of art, music, poetry and tales of their adventures as artists-in-residence at Gettysburg in the summer of 2019.
Minneapolis artist David Geister is a storyteller with a paintbrush, who has created artwork for historic sites, publications and private collectors. He is the illustrator of more than 20 picture books, including Storm’s Coming, written by Margi Preus; Grandpa Alan’s Sugar Shack, written by Alan and Kamie Page; and B is for Battle Cry: A Civil War Alphabet, written by his wife, Pat Bauer. He was honored by the MN Council for the Social Studies with the “Friend of the Social Studies” award in 2019. Dave is a frequent visitor to schools, where he shares his passion for making art, creating stop-motion animation films and playing with toy soldiers!
Pat Bauer was a teacher for 38 years and will never stop being an educator! She is the author of B is for Battle Cry: A Civil War Alphabet, illustrated by her husband, David Geister. She was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the MN Council for the Social Studies in 2017. Pat served on the MN Task Force for the Commemoration of the Civil War, and the MN WWI Commemoration Task Force. Along with Dave, she visits schools, libraries, and other venues, to share her love and knowledge of history, literature, music and art.
February 18, 2020: “The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant: Preserving the Civil War’s Legacy” – Dr. Paul Kahan
“The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant: Preserving the Civil War’s Legacy” – Dr. Paul Kahan
In The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant: Preserving the Civil War’s Legacy, historian Paul Kahan explores the unique political, economic, and cultural forces unleashed by the Civil War and how Grant addressed these issues during his tumultuous two terms as chief executive. A timely reassessment, The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant sheds new light on the business of politics in the decade after the Civil War and portrays an energetic and even progressive executive whose legacy has been overshadowed by both his wartime service and his administration’s many scandals.
Dr. Paul Kahan is an expert on the political, diplomatic, and economic history of the United States in the nineteenth century. He earned a Ph.D. in U.S. history from Temple University. Prior to that, Dr. Kahan earned an M.A. in Modern American History & Literature from Drew University and B.A.s in history and English from Alfred University.
Dr. Kahan has published several books, including “Eastern State Penitentiary: A History,” “Amiable Scoundrel: Simon Cameron, Lincoln’s Scandalous Secretary of War,” “The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant: Preserving the Civil War’s Legacy,” and “The Bank War: Andrew Jackson, Nicholas Biddle, and the Fight for American Finance.”
March 17, 2020: “The Infamous Dakota War Trials of 1862: Revenge, Military Law, and the Judgment of History” – John Haymond
“The Infamous Dakota War Trials of 1862: Revenge, Military Law, and the Judgment of History” – John Haymond
The military commission trials that took place in the immediate aftermath of the US-Dakota War of 1862 remain an intensely controversial element of Minnesota’s most devastating conflict. The grim details of those proceedings –the frequently cursory nature of the 392 trials and the secrecy under which they were conducted; the total lack of defense counsel for the Dakota defendants; the 303 death sentences; the 38 men hanged on a single gallows in Mankato – have led many modern observers to conclude that the trials, executions, and subsequent expulsion of Dakota people from Minnesota were appalling injustices. The prevailing view also holds that Colonel Henry H. Sibley never had the necessary authority to convene the military court in the first place. Historian John A. Haymond examines the US-Dakota War and the military commission trials from the essential perspective of 19th century military law and reaches several surprising conclusions that directly challenge many long-held interpretations of this history.
John A. Haymond is a conflict historian who studies the history of military law and social justice issues. He has a BA in history from the University of Minnesota Duluth, an MSc in history from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and is working on a PhD based on his research on the Dakota War trials. He is the author of three books: The Infamous Dakota War Trials of 1862: Revenge, Military Law, and the Judgment of History (McFarland & Co, 2016); The American Soldier, 1866-1916: The Enlisted Man and the Transformation of the United States Army (McFarland & Co, 2018); and Soldiers: A Global History of the Fighting Man 1800-1945 (Stackpole Books, 2018). His fourth book, a study of the 1917 Houston Mutiny and courts-martial, a case that resulted in the largest mass execution of American soldiers in U.S. history, is currently underway. His work has been published in scholarly journals both in the United States and Great Britain, and he writes a regular feature about the history of the laws of war for Military History Quarterly. He served twenty-one years in the U.S. Army and currently resides in Washington, where his wife is an Army medical officer at Joint Base Lewis McChord.
May 19, 2020: “Trust in God and Fear Nothing: Confederate General Lewis A. Armistead” – Wayne Motts
“Trust in God and Fear Nothing:
Confederate General Lewis A. Armistead”
– Wayne Motts
Join author, historian, and guide, Wayne Motts as he explores the life of Confederate General Lewis A. Armistead of Pickett’s Charge fame. The son of a regular army general, Armistead had a long and distinguished career as soldier in the United States Army. A veteran of three wars, he joined the Confederacy in 1861 as colonel of the 57th Virginia Infantry Regiment and later as a brigade commander under Robert E. Lee. Motts will trace the life and death of this remarkable soldier.
Wayne E. Motts is the chief executive officer of The National Civil War Museum located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He has been a licensed battlefield guide at the Gettysburg National Military Park for over thirty years. He is the author of the only published biography of Brigadier General Lewis A. Armistead of the Confederate Army who was mortally wounded on July 3 at Gettysburg, and is the co-author (with James Hessler) of Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg: A Guide to the Most Famous Attack in American History.
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HomeTax Statement
T. C. Harrison Group Limited Our tax strategy – a responsible approach
The Group is run in line with the original Harrison family ethos, believing implicitly in total customer and stakeholder satisfaction. We see consistent, friendly and efficient service to our customers as our central belief. In support of this, the Group strategy is to be open and transparent and this extends to our accounting function and the management of our tax affairs.
We act responsibly in all tax matters, recognising the importance of paying the right amount of tax at the right time, and providing transparent disclosure to the tax authorities. We seek to build constructive relationships with the various departments of HMRC.
We have reviewed our tax strategy and tax risk policy because we have a duty under Schedule 19 of Finance Act 2016 to publish our tax strategy before 31 December 2018. This is set out below, and will be reviewed and updated as relevant on an annual basis.
UK Taxation paid by the Group
We set out below the UK taxes that our businesses pay, together with the taxes that are collected and remitted to HMRC:
Corporation tax – the Group pays corporation tax on taxable profits as computed under the relevant tax law. The taxable profit is based on the accounting profit before tax in the financial statements as adjusted based on tax law for example in respect of capital items (e.g. fixed assets) and pension contributions. Specific tax legislation in relation to the tax treatment of different types of car leases provided to customers is applied.
Value Added Tax (VAT) – VAT is charged to customers as appropriate based on the nature of the supply for VAT purposes and VAT is recovered on costs accordingly.
Pay As You Earn – We are required to deduct PAYE from employee remuneration and this is paid over to the tax authorities by 22nd of the following month.
National insurance contributions – employee contributions are deducted from employee remuneration and paid over to HMRC along with employer contributions.
Stamp duty land tax – payable on the consideration paid for property and land transactions.
The Group operates predominantly in the UK with less than 1% of the turnover being derived from international markets.
Risk management and governance arrangements
Approach - Our tax affairs are managed to reflect the regulatory, legal and commercial environment in which we operate. When making decisions that have a tax effect, we firstly consider the overall business objective, the transactions that will be undertaken in accordance with the agreed approach and then we go on to consider how tax legislation will apply to the transactions.
Whilst the size of the Group and complexity of the businesses might suggest at least a moderate tax risk profile, when last reviewed, HMRC concluded that they viewed the Group as being low risk.
We define tax risk as either:
Uncertainty from the interpretation of tax law to a particular transaction or result; or
The practical implementation of tax law in an operational or compliance sense across our operations, which has the potential to have an adverse financial or reputational outcome.
Tax risk is managed in a manner consistent with all other accounting risks.
Governance arrangements - The accounting function operates based on a robust system of internal controls. Our finance team at Group level consists of individuals with a mix of industry and business knowledge. Most of the team are qualified Chartered Accountants and are led by an experienced Group Finance Director with over 30 years post qualified experience. In addition, each operation has an accountant in post. Employment tax and Value Added Tax requirements are managed on a day to day basis by our in-house team at operational level with oversight provided at Group level by the Group Financial Controller and Group Finance Director.
The Group outlines procedures and policies that must be followed so that all operations operate and report in a consistent manner. The internal audit function is staffed by qualified accountants who visit the operations regularly to review accounting records and to ensure that a consistent tax compliant approach is applied throughout the Group.
The Group believes that it has sufficient controls in place to manage the risks which it identifies and seeks assistance from its advisers where necessary.
The Group Finance Director is a member of the Board and the Board provides oversight in relation to the management of the Group’s tax affairs. The Board makes decisions in relation to significant transactions, after taking any necessary and appropriate advice from experts.
Attitude towards tax planning and the level of tax risk that the Group is prepared to accept
We seek to structure our affairs in a tax efficient manner while operating within tax legislation. All decisions are taken after careful consideration of the relevant facts and aggressive interpretations of tax law for tax planning purposes are consciously avoided.
Use of advisers – We engage tax advisers to undertake corporation tax and VAT compliance work on our behalf. In addition, we work closely with our advisers who are engaged from time to time to provide second opinions on other compliance related matters and also to provide specialist advise in relation to one-off transactions and new legislative requirements.
Working with HMRC
The Group communicates with HMRC in an open and transparent way, which has been described by HMRC as collaborative, to ensure that the right amount of tax is paid at the right time and that reports and returns are submitted before the relevant deadline.
Where the tax analysis of any significant transactions is open to interpretation, it is Group policy to have a real-time dialogue with HMRC to agree the appropriate treatment.
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Tilt’s Global Ambitions Grow As It Reaches A $400M Valuation
Matthew Lynley
@mattlynley / 4 years ago
This year — like many rapidly growing startups — is a year of major international expansion for Tilt, a startup centered around funding projects that is well on its way to being worth $400 million.
Tilt serves as a way for people to raise money ahead of an event happening — such as funding T-shirts for a sorority or raising money for a school charity event. Users commit to paying for a project, but it has to hit a certain level of funding before anyone pays for the project. But in many ways the service mirrors a social network that builds on the same principles of sharing and communications. And after finding a spot in college campuses that are raising money for smaller events, Tilt is setting its eyes on international markets that could help propel its business even further.
The company launched in Canada last year and that market is already growing faster than the company grew in its first 12 months in United States, Tilt CEO James Beshara said. The company has soft-launched in the United Kingdom. Tilt has also brought on Oli Jung, who that helped Airbnb grow internationally, as a consultant to help it expand to new countries. Jung is also an early investor in Tilt.
“A startup has to do two things to scale internationally — solve a problem for user and solve a problem for distribution,” Tilt CEO James Beshara said. “We solved a problem for users in building the easiest way to collect money from a group. Really, the more we realized it is borrowing our favorite elements from crowdfunding applications, it’s a very new product that is a kind of first mover in its own right. If you’re collecting money from 35 sorority sisters at University of Texas, there is really no other app built for that. You can duct tape a few together, but nothing’s really built for that.”
If you’re collecting money from 35 sorority sisters at University of Texas, there is really no other app built for that. You can duct tape a few together, but nothing’s really built for that. James Beshara
Tilt has also raised a new round of funding that values the company at $400 million, according to our sources. But that isn’t really that much of a surprise given the costs of international growth. It requires hiring people who know the regions well, and the company has to expand its college ambassador program — one of its strongest areas of growth — at universities abroad. Tilt already has around 400 college ambassadors, but it expects to have more than 1,000 by the end of August.
“What Tilt has been able to do — and you see it among the growth and stickiness in the college and graduate school demographic — is they have really created a platform that has enabled the type of behavior of people pooling resources,” David Lee, a former partner at SV Angel and an investor in Tilt, said. “That can range from things as profound as helping people in Nepal to as frivolous of a keg party. People like to feel connected, and probably one of the more profound ways is to connect is through purchasing things and experiences together.”
In many ways, the usage abroad is similar to the United States. But Beshara and his team are approaching each country with “eyes wide open,” he said, expecting there to be some differences in the way people use the service. Indeed, even in Canada, there are differences in the way people raise money on Tilt, with users there being more conservative than their American counterparts.
“The dollar value of Tilt campaigns are higher in the U.S.,” Tilt’s country manager in Canada Tim Ryan said. “Canadians culturally are quite a bit more utilitarian, more conservative, more practical in some ways. We have to get people used to the service in small bites. Once they get used to it, every subsequent total will be bigger and more people will be involved. We start by focusing on the seemingly boring things, like students getting groceries and people getting cable bills.”
Like many startups expanding internationally, the goal of launching in early countries is to build a playbook that can be applied to new ones. Pinterest is a good example of a company that’s looking to do something similar as it expands to countries like Japan and Brazil, and already 40 percent of Pinterest users are outside the United States. There are around 6.7 billion people outside of the United States, so it’s not really a stretch to imagine that international markets will quickly become the largest source of Tilt’s business, even by the end of the year if it continues to expand to new countries at a decent clip.
Expanding to new countries and building those playbooks for international expansion as quickly as possible is going to be important to a company like Tilt, which would could leverage a first-mover advantage into building a lot of buzz for the service. But still, the company continues to grow at a healthy rate in the United States and Beshara expects it to do so for the foreseeable future, even as it rapidly expands its international footprint.
“I still think even as we grow internationally, we’re going to be [healthily] growing at the same time the United States,” Beshara said. “We’re seeing our best growth in the U.S. we’ve ever seen, But I think international is gonna overpower it. We’re gonna launch in enough countries by the end of the year, and they’ll have their own low end of the hockey sticks.”
The challenges will be different from other networks expanding internationally. Tilt has to deal with regulatory issues surrounding payments that other startups expanding internationally don’t have to deal with. But unlike Airbnb, Tilt can lean on companies like Stripe that have already solved those problems, but didn’t exist a few years ago. Beshara said he hopes to be able to spin up Tilt’s presence in new countries in 45 days once the service soft-launches in that country.
Expanding internationally brings another challenge with it as well: making sure people working for Tilt abroad still feel like they are working for Tilt, and not on an island disconnected from the company’s home base. That job still requires people that are more self-starters, but it’s important to maintain the connection to the company, Jung said.
“We learned that hiring the right people is most important and we learned that sometimes even more important than achieving the goals can be culture fit,” Jung said. “When founders of companies like Airbnb, Houzz or Tilt enter an office far away overseas, it is important it looks and feel like Airbnb, Houzz or Tilt and not like some remote satellite. We learned that it is important to make always sure it is one culture and one company, to prevent a we (US) and them (international) culture. It should always be one company, one Tilt.”
The next region in Tilt’s sights in Asia, one of the largest potential markets that already has a large number of peer-to-peer payment networks. Tilt’s investor Jeff Jordan has plenty of experience expanding in markets abroad thanks to his experience at eBay and PayPal, and has served as a mentor to Beshara as he builds out his plans to expand to new countries. And Tilt, too, represents a sort of future-facing payments service, rather than other services like Venmo, which see a lot of use in paying people back.
To be sure, Tilt is not the only startup that is creating some noise in the crowdfunding space. Most recently we reported that GoFundMe is raising at a $500 million valuation. With lots of capital flowing in the space, it’s clear that Silicon Valley sees a lot of potential in these kinds of services that goes beyond simply crowdfunding. Tilt’s challenge will be getting to those regions first and establishing its presence, and then finding out how to replicate that success as it continues to grow internationally.
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Google’s Expeditions Pioneer Program Brings Cardboard To Schools
Frederic Lardinois @fredericl / 4 years
Earlier this year at its I/O developer conference, Google announced ‘Expeditions,’ an app that lets teachers create synchronized virtual school trips using the company’s Cardboard virtual reality viewer. At the time, Google said it would have more news about Expeditions in the fall and as promised, it gave us an update today. The company is taking Expeditions on the road and to schools in the U.S., Australia, the United Kingdom and Brazil as part of a pilot program it calls the “Expeditions Pioneer Program.”
Google says it will bring kits with everything teachers need to run a virtual class trip to schools. This kit includes Asus Zenfone 2’s, a tablet for the teacher, Cardboard or Mattel View-Master viewers, and a router that allows Expeditions to run offline if necessary.
Google has partnered with content providers like the American Museum of Natural History, The Smithsonian, The Planetary Society, the National Museum of Korea, Frontiers of Flight Museum, Alchemy VR, PBS, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and others to create virtual reality experiences for students. Google is also partnering with Subaru to bring these virtual field trips to schools.
The company says that it plans to bring Expeditions to “thousands” of schools. That’s definitely an ambitious program, especially since it plans to have a team visit every school to show teachers how the system works.
Schools that are interested in joining the program can sign up here.
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Outstandingly Interesting Facts About Computers
Computers have come a long way since they were invented. Today, they are being used almost everywhere. Let us find out about a few interesting computer facts, and get ourselves amazed.
Aakash Singh
I think each and every one of us must know about the evolution of computers. It is one of the most useful machines ever created by humans. The invention of the computer was just the beginning of the ever-increasing thirst for knowledge. I guess, even the inventor of the computer mustn't have realized the potential that this machine would have. Today, almost all of our work is done by some or the other computing machine. Computers are enhancing technological growth at a rapid rate. Nevertheless, how much ever we know about this super machine, is less. Mentioned below are a few of the little known computer facts.
Fun Computer Facts
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft was a college drop out.
On one of the world's most popular shopping websites, eBay, there are transactions of approx. $680 per second.
There are approx. 6,000 new computer viruses released every month.
Of all the pictures available over the Internet, 80 percent of these pictures are of naked women.
'Crash Course' is another name for Microsoft Windows tutorials.
The 'Email' is older than the World Wide Web.
There are about five porn pages for every 'normal' webpage.
Doug Engelbart, invented the first computer mouse in the year 1964, which was made of wood!
One of the world's leading computer and computer peripheral manufacturer, Hewlett Packard, was first started in a garage at Palo Alto, in the year 1939.
If you open up the case of the original Macintosh, you will find 47 signatures, which is of each member of Apple's Macintosh division of 1982.
Amongst the most interesting computer facts is, the first Apple computer which was built by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, was made by using parts they got for free from their employers. They were made to scrounge spare parts from work.
The group of 12 engineers who designed the IBM PC were called 'The Dirty Dozen'.
Amazon is a printed book seller company, that now sells more eBooks than printed books.
Over 110 million users are registered on MySpace. If MySpace was a country, it would be tenth largest in the world, while Facebook would be third largest with over a billion users.
About 70% virus writers are actually employed by an organization under a contract.
HP, Google, Microsoft, and Apple have one thing in common. All of them were started in garages.
The Apollo 11 Lunar Lander which was used to travel to the moon, has less processing power than the processor of a cell phone.
Out of the 1.8 billion Internet users, only 450 million can speak English.
The first 1GB hard disk, announced in 1980, weighed about 550 pounds, and was priced at $40,000.
Computer Facts For Kids
A normal human being blinks 20 times a minute, whereas, a computer user blinks only 7 times a minute!
Sweden is a country with the highest percentage of Internet users (75%).
Mosaic' was the first popular web browser, released in the year 1993.
I am sure most of us must have played the game Tetris. Since the time it was created in the early eighties, it has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, which made its creator richer by $8m.
Almost all computer users must know how destructive a virus can be. But then, it would be interesting to know that a virus cannot corrupt your PC on its own. It corrupts your system only when you activate it, by either downloading infected files from the Internet, or by sharing these infected files.
Computer circuitry can be destroyed by static electricity. It is so mild for humans that we don't even feel it.
The Nvidia GeForce 6800 Ultra chip has maximum numbers of transistors on it, approx. 222 million of them.
Konrad Zuse, has the credit of creating the world's first computer, known as the Z1, in 1936. Three years later, in the year 1939, the first fully-functioning electro-mechanical computer, known as Z2, was developed.
'Stewardesses' is the longest word which can be typed with only the left hand.
Today, we find hard drives up to 1TB, but did you know, the first hard drive was created in 1979, and could hold just 5MB of data.
Interface Manager! That's what Windows was originally named.
If your work involves the extensive use of computers, then by the end of your average working day, your fingers would have traveled 12.6 miles.
The first microprocessor, Intel's 4004, was designed for the Busicom calculator.
Lenovo stands for 'new legend'. 'Le' for legend, and 'novo' stands for new.
80% of the emails sent daily are spammy.
SanDisk was earlier known as SunDisk.
Until September 1995, domain registration was free.
'Electronic brains'! That's what computers were called in the 1950s.
One can type 20 times faster using a Dvorak keyboard as compared to using a Qwerty keyboard.
'ShenMue' is the most expensive game ever to be made. It was developed for Sega Dreamcast, and was priced at $20 million.
The uses of computers today are endless, with different types of computers being used for different sectors. It is good to see how the world of computers is getting better than ever.
Personal Computer (PC) Facts
Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics
Different Types of Computers
What are the Main Parts of a Computer?
Basic Computer Terms
Forward Slash Vs. Backslash
What is Processor Cache
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News Games Blue Whale Challenge: 17-Year-Old Russian Girl, Alleged Mastermind, Arrested
Blue Whale Challenge: 17-Year-Old Russian Girl, Alleged Mastermind, Arrested
Gautam Manhas
Russian police have recently arrested a 17-year-old teen girl who is allegedly detained by the Russian police for being the mastermind behind the dangerous Blue Whale Challenge game.
One of the creators of the game Blue Whale said he sees his victims as “biological garbage.” Russian prisoner Philipp Budeikin, 21, confessed to the murders and told police he was “cleaning up society.”
The lethal game Baleia Azul is aimed at vulnerable teenagers over 50 days. Young people should perform tasks such as waking up at dawn, watching horror movies and practicing self-mutilation and the last command of the game is suicide.
However, Russian police have recently arrested a 17-year-old teen girl who is allegedly detained by the Russian police for being the mastermind behind the dangerous Blue Whale Challenge game, that basically encouraged players to commit suicide.
The 17-year-old Russian teenager, of course, who has now been arrested by the Russian police, simply use to threatened her victims just by stating that “she would murder them or their families if they did not complete the tasks that were set for them”.
Basically, the main aim of this deadly Blue Whale game is to target the users who are actually depressed, so that very easily they can turn victims desire into suicide and then suicide into a thrilling game.
Just after the sign-up process victims or players whatever you want to designate those users, are set tasks for 50 days, that include tasks like self-harm, watching horror movies solely, forming a whale on their arm.
Hold on, not only that, as their final task on the 50th day is to kill themselves, yes, they simply provoke or you can say they blackmail users to attempt suicide. The worst thing about this game is that it has already managed to make out 130 suicides around the world.
According to the Russian police, this 17-year-old Russian teenager first played the game but she did not complete it by taking her own life. Instead of that, she turned into an administrator of the game, where she encouraged other users to complete the tasks given to them.
So, what do you think about this? Simply share your views and thoughts in the comment section below.
Gautam Manhas is the content writer at Tech Viral. As, he writes about Technology, Science, Gadgets, Hacking & Security, Social Media and much more.
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RULE §402.402 Registry of Bingo Workers
(a) Definitions. The following words and terms, when used in this section, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) Bingo Chairperson--an individual named in accordance with Texas Occupations Code §2001.002(4-a) and §2001.102(b)(6).
(2) Bookkeeper--an individual ultimately responsible for the preparation of any financial records for information reported on the Texas Bingo Conductor's Quarterly Report or for preparation and maintenance of bingo inventory records for a licensed authorized organization.
(3) Caller--an individual who operates the bingo ball selection device and announces the balls selected.
(4) Cashier--an individual who sells and records bingo card and pull-tab sales to bingo players and/or pays winners the appropriate prize.
(5) Completed Application--A registry application or renewal form prescribed by the Commission which is legible and lists at a minimum the applicant's complete legal name, address, social security number or registry number, date of birth, race, gender and signature.
(6) Manager--an individual who oversees the day-to-day operation of the bingo premises.
(7) Operator--means an active bona fide member of a licensed authorized organization that has been designated on a form prescribed by the Commission prior to acting in the capacity as the organization's operator.
(8) Provisional Employee--an individual who is employed by a licensed authorized organization as an operator, manager, cashier, usher, caller, or salesperson while awaiting the results of a background check, whether paid or not.
(9) Salesperson--an individual who monitors bingo players, sells bingo cards and pull-tabs, verifies winning cards and pull-tabs and/or delivers the prize money to the winners; may be referred to as an usher, floor worker, or runner.
(10) Usher--an individual who monitors bingo players, sells bingo cards and pull-tabs, verifies winning cards and pull-tabs and/or delivers the prize money to the winners; may be referred to as a salesperson, floor worker or runner.
<?Pub Caret -2> (b) Who must be listed on the Registry of Approved Bingo Workers. Any individual who carries out or performs the functions of a caller, cashier, manager, operator, usher, salesperson, bookkeeper, or bingo chairperson as defined in subsection (a) of this section must be listed on the Registry of Approved Bingo Workers prior to being involved in the conduct of bingo.
(c) Each individual must submit a completed Texas Application for Registry of Approved Bingo Workers as prescribed by the Commission to remain on the Registry of Approved Bingo Workers.
(d) The registrant will be added to the registry as soon as possible after the Commission has determined that the individual is eligible to be involved in the conduct of bingo or act as an operator.
(e) For purposes of the Registry of Approved Bingo Workers, each operator, bookkeeper, and bingo chairperson must be designated on the licensed authorized organization's license to conduct bingo application.
(f) A licensed authorized organization must submit the name of a registered operator, bookkeeper, or bingo chairperson on a form prescribed by the Commission prior to the individual's acting in that capacity.
(g) A registered worker who fails to timely submit the prescribed form to renew listing on the registry may not be involved in the conduct of bingo until the individual is again added to the registry. It is the responsibility of the licensed authorized organization to review the registry to confirm that the individual's registration is current.
(h) How to be listed on the Registry of Approved Bingo Workers. For an individual to be listed on the Registry of Approved Bingo Workers, an individual must:
(1) submit a completed Texas Application for Registry of Approved Bingo Workers form as prescribed by the Commission;
(2) submit a verifiable FBI or DPS fingerprint card if at the time of registration:
(A) the individual is residing outside of Texas; or
(B) the individual maintains a driver's license or registration in another state; and
(3) be determined by the Commission to not be ineligible under Texas Occupations Code, §2001.105(a)(6) or the Commission's Rules.
(i) Incomplete Applications. The Commission will notify the applicant at the address provided if the registry application or renewal form submitted is not complete and will identify what is missing. The original application will be returned to the applicant for correction and resubmission. It is the responsibility of the registry applicant to resubmit a completed application before it may be processed. Failure to submit an FBI or DPS fingerprint card, if required, is grounds for denial or removal of the registration.
(j) An individual listed on the registry must notify the Commission of any changes to information contained on the Texas Application for Registry of Approved Bingo Workers on file with the Commission within 30 days of the change in information. Such notification shall be in writing or other approved electronic means.
(k) Identification Card for Approved Bingo Worker.
(1) The Commission will issue an identification card indicating that the individual is listed on the registry. A registered worker and operator must wear his/her identification card while on duty.
(2) The identification card worn by the registered worker or operator while on duty must be visible.
(3) The identification card shall list the individual's name, unique registration number and registry expiration date as issued by the Commission. An individual may obtain the unique registration number and registry expiration date from the Registry of Approved Bingo Workers on the Commission's website or by requesting the registration number and registry expiration date from the Commission.
(4) An identification card is not transferable and may be worn only by the individual identified on the card.
(5) Upon request by a Commission employee, an individual described in subsection (a) of this section shall present personal photo identification in order to verify the identification card is that individual's card.
(l) How to Obtain Additional Approved Identification Cards.
(1) A completed identification card may be obtained from the Commission by submitting the required form.
(2) An individual who has been approved to work in charitable bingo may complete an identification card form provided by the Commission for use while on duty. Blank identification card forms may be obtained from the Commission. The individual requesting the identification card form(s) must submit any required fee and the required form for the blank identification card form.
(3) The identification card prepared by the individual may only be on a prescribed Commission card form and must be legible and include the individual's name, unique registration number, and registry expiration date.
(m) A licensed authorized organization which is reporting conduct where there is a substantial basis for believing that the conduct would constitute grounds for removal or refusal to list on the registry shall make the report in writing to: Bingo Registry, Texas Lottery Commission, P.O. Box 16630, Austin, Texas 78761-6630.
(n) The provisions of the Texas Occupations Code §2001.313, related to the registry of bingo workers, do not apply to an authorized organization that does not have a regular license to conduct bingo who receives a temporary license to conduct bingo.
(o) If the Commission proposes to refuse to add or proposes to remove the individual from the Registry of Approved Bingo Workers consistent with Texas Occupations Code §2001.313, the Commission will give notice of the proposed action as provided by Government Code, Chapter 2001.
(p) An individual receiving notice that the Commission intends to refuse to add to or intends to remove the individual from the Registry of Approved Bingo Workers may request a hearing. Failure to submit a written request for a hearing within 30 calendar days of the date of the notice will result in the denial of the application or removal of the registered worker from the registry.
(q) An individual who has been denied or removed from the registry because of a conviction for an offense listed under Occupations Code §2001.105(b) will not be eligible to reapply to be listed. An individual who has been denied or removed from the registry because of a disqualifying criminal conviction not listed under Occupations Code §2001.105(b) may reapply to be listed no earlier than five years after the commission of the offense, or as otherwise allowed under the Commission's Rules.
(r) A provisional employee must:
(1) immediately stop working:
(A) after 14 days if the individual is not listed on the registry and is a resident of this state;
(B) after 75 days if the individual is not listed on the registry, not a resident of this state, and submitted a fingerprint card for a background investigation. If the fingerprint cards are returned by the law enforcement agency as unclassifiable, the Commission will notify the individual, and the individual may continue to be provisionally employed by submitting a written request and new fingerprint cards within 14 days of the notification;
(C) if found to be ineligible on the basis of the background investigation; and
(2) wear an identification card while on duty with the registry applicant's name, "Provisional Employment" as the unique registration number, and the submission date of the registry application as the expiration date.
(s) A licensed authorized organization who employs a provisional employee must maintain a copy of the registry applicant's completed Texas Application for Registry of Approved Bingo Workers form submitted to the Commission until the individual is listed on the registry or the licensed authorized organization is notified that the individual is not eligible to be listed. Payment for the employment of a provisional employee as outlined in subsection (a)(8) of this section is an authorized bingo expense; however, payment for non-registered workers is not an authorized bingo expense.
Source Note: The provisions of this §402.402 adopted to be effective March 21, 2005, 30 TexReg 163; amended to be effective June 7, 2009, 34 TexReg 3389; amended to be effective March 9, 2010, 35 TexReg 2001; amended to be effective January 1, 2014, 38 TexReg 9535; amended to be effective December 31, 2017, 42 TexReg 7392; amended to be effective July 12, 2018, 43 TexReg 4556
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Baby Girl Shower Invitations
Heart Shower -Multi Invitation
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A Year in Reading: Elizabeth Kostova
Year in Reading
Elizabeth Kostova December 14, 2009 | 11 books mentioned 3 min read
It’s always hard for me to choose the best book I’ve read in any given year, since I read constantly, if slowly, like a tortoise. This past year I’ve read mostly novels, although I often read history, biography, lay science, memoir, and poetry, as well. As the season wanes, I like to look back over my list, however paltry it may be (the tortoise effect). This year’s included Matthew Kneale’s wonderful historical novel English Passengers; Kazuo Ishiguro’s quite perfect The Remains of the Day; Lampedusa’s masterful tale of fading aristocracy, The Leopard; Giles Waterfield’s eerie story of war in Europe, The Long Afternoon; a fabulous work of history, The Discovery of France, by Graham Robb; and Jane Austen’s Emma (how did I miss this one during my previous forty-three years?).
But the book that really marks 2009 for me is one I probably should have read long before and will probably read at least once again, life permitting: A Tale of Two Cities by, of course, Charles Dickens.
A Tale of Two Cities is one of those books so famous that it has come to seem more title than actual book, like Frankenstein, Dracula, Moby Dick, War and Peace. Wikipedia tells us that it is the “most printed original English book.” It contains one of the three or four most famous first lines in the English language: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” I remember that when I was about thirteen, my father was talking about first lines and he said, “What if you reversed that? ‘It was the worst of times, it was the best of times.’ Doesn’t work at all, does it?” And my uncle, also literary, liked to quote the last line of the book, in a mock-epic voice: “It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done…” Clearly, it was high time for me to find out what lay between those two galloping old warhorses.
A Tale of Two Cities contains all the hallmarks of the Victorian tearjerker: it is sentimental, cloyingly pious, full of terribly convenient and eventually predictable coincidences, laden with long sentences, self-sacrificing Angel-in-the-House female leads, political caricatures, and grotesque minor characters. I was riveted from the first–or, perhaps, the second–sentence–and I wept over the last.
Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much about the story, in case you’ve waited as long as I to read it, because the plot is so intricately suspenseful that almost anything I describe about it will give too much away.
Suffice it to say that it is not only an extraordinary piece of storytelling but also a remarkable piece of historical fiction–eighty years after the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, Dickens imagined not simply the large machineries of social injustice and mob fury but also the very essence of everyday life under duress, the things that make history real to a reader–the rough wool fabric of a red cap, the color of the mud on a man’s shoes, the staring eyes of a stone figure on a chateau wall, the murdering women with blood on their skirt hems going home to their Paris quarter to feed the children, the tree from which a guillotine was made. Please do not wait as long as I did.
For the ultimate experience, hear it as I did, too: as a Recorded Books AudioBook (available at your public library), read by the incomparable Frank Muller (originally a Shakespearian stage actor).
Dickens was made to be read aloud, by fireplace and coal stove, lantern and gaslight, and A Tale of Two Cities is even better in this form than on the printed page.
More from A Year in Reading
Elizabeth Kostova is the author of the international bestseller The Historian. Her new novel The Swan Thieves will be published in January 2010. She graduated from Yale and holds an MFA from the University of Michigan, where she won the Hopwood Award for the Novel-in-Progress.
A Year in Reading: Claire Vaye Watkins
Claire Vaye Watkins December 3, 2015 | 11 books mentioned 4 2 min read
I deem Sarah Shun-lien Bynum’s 'Ms. Hempel Chronicles' the best book I read this year, for reminding me of my favorite reason to read: pure joy.
Claire Vaye Watkins | 11 books mentioned 4 2 min read
A Year in Reading: Nichole Bernier
Nichole Bernier December 17, 2012 | 11 books mentioned 1 3 min read
When I went back through my book journal looking for this year’s reading highlights, a diverse foursome stood out, and I thought, Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. I’m not a singsongy person, but the monkey mind loves patterns.
The something old was my re-read of an old favorite, Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner. This was my third time, occasioned by an invitation from my local indie bookstore to lead a book club on my favorite novel. Crossing to Safety is the story of two couples, their lifelong marriages and friendship, and it takes a clear-eyed look at how our strengths and foibles become more forgiving and more brittle over the decades. It’s brilliant, more so each time I read it. This time I treasured the voice and dry humor of the narrator poking fun at the champagne bubbliness of his own youth — hoo hoo, ha ha — naïve to the hardship up ahead.
Something new was The Light Between Oceans, a summer debut by Australian writer M.L. Stedman. I’ve been a bit of a zealot for this book while on book tour and probably should be on commission, because when I give my elevator pitch, the audience sighs with that reader-hunger that must be appeased. I tell them this: It’s set on a tiny island in 1920s Australia, and its sole inhabitants — a lighthouse keeper and his wife — have been unable to have children. One day a rowboat washes ashore with a dead man and a live baby. What to do? Report the child, or raise her as their own? The decision the couple makes that day reverberates through the decades, and through the lives of others. It’s the kind of novel I love because it involves a moral choice where there is no clear right or wrong, no clear path of lesser harm.
Borrowed is a bit of a stretch, but work with me here. My pediatrician told me recently about a little-known and out-of-print children’s novella by Faulkner called The Wishing Tree. My first thought was, What would Faulkner have to say to kids? That when you mimic the help, it’s important to get the dialect right? That you shouldn’t drink while doing your homework, only after you’re done?
Intrigued, I tracked down a used copy online. The Alice-in-Wonderlandesque story is in classic Faulker terroritory, a sloshing bouillabaisse of race, relationships, and social class but served up in kiddie bowls. It hints at many of the themes and characters to come in his later work, The Sound and the Fury, which I borrowed from the library to refresh my memory. The strong doomed sister. The disgruntled black maid carrying the weight of the world and none of the family’s respect. The menacing jaybirds, always swooping. No Dick and Jane.
I decided to read The Wishing Tree to my kids anyway and they loved it, along with the controversial way it found its way to publication some 40 years after it was written: first as a gift to an eight-year-old girl whose mom he wanted to marry, then to three other kids, including a girl dying of cancer. Each thought he’d written it only for him or her, and were in for a rude awakening when the first girl published it after Faulkner’s death.
Blue is how Salvage the Bones made me feel, the blue of neglected children and spurned love and rushing hurricane stormwater before it goes brown in its race through dirt lots of Mississippi. This is the Katrina most people didn’t hear about, put to merciless fiction by Jesmyn Ward. In her hands, four siblings’ fierce bickery loyalty is the closest thing to unconditional love, and a teen’s dedication to his fighter of a pit bull and her pups is as close as it gets to salvation.
This audiobook kicked my tail clear from Kansas City to Minneapolis to Chicago, where I bought a paper copy to finish on the flight home. Because I love a book that beats me up a little, makes the monkey mind sit still and show respect.
More from A Year in Reading 2012
Don’t miss: A Year in Reading 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005
The good stuff: The Millions’ Notable articles
The motherlode: The Millions’ Books and Reviews
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Nichole Bernier | 11 books mentioned 1 3 min read
A Year in Reading: Michael Cunningham
Michael Cunningham December 16, 2010 | 11 books mentioned 2
My big project over the last year has been (finally) reading Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, about which nothing really need be said. I have, however, taken periodic Proust breaks and read novels that don’t require 10,000 hours of uninterrupted attention.
I could list a dozen or more good novels I’ve read, but a particular favorite was Emma Donoghue’s Room, which concerns a young woman and her five-year-old son who are kept captive by a psychopath in a single room. It’s amazing what Donoghue is able to do within that tiny physical space. If we were worried (and I don’t think we should be) about a lack of originality and ambition in contemporary novels, here’s one that conjures an enormous story out of simple, even miniature, circumstances. I also tremendously enjoyed a young adult novel called The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, which imagines a future world in which children are selected to fight to the death, for a vast TV audience. It’s well-written, completely engrossing, and involves a kick-ass girl who never needs to be rescued by the boys. What’s not to like about that?
Don’t miss: A Year in Reading 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005
Like what you see? Learn about 5 insanely easy ways to Support The Millions
Michael Cunningham | 11 books mentioned 2
A Year in Reading: Garth Risk Hallberg
Garth Risk Hallberg December 4, 2014 | 11 books mentioned 5 8 min read
This is a terrific novel. I couldn't help wishing, as I did with so much of what I read this year, that my old man was still around, that I might recommend it to him.
Garth Risk Hallberg | 11 books mentioned 5 8 min read
A Year in Reading: Rachel Syme
Rachel Syme December 23, 2010 | 11 books mentioned 3 min read
“We were talking about The Bell Jar, because we were sixteen, and we wanted to be depressed in New York.” – Deborah Willis, Vanishing
I tend to like and lean towards creative things made by womenfolk—perhaps it has to do with being handed a Cibo Matto mixtape at a crucial point of adolescence or deciding to major in post-1945 yonic-ceramic-art-history in college (yes! I really did this!); yellow-wallpapered observations are always my default reads. But this year, I found myself reading almost exclusively female writers–and more specifically, their collections of short stories. As Lorrie Moore puts it (best, always best), I have entered “that awful stage of life between twenty-six to and thirty-seven known as stupidity,” and the best way I’ve found to navigate—or at least subsist within—it are these compact little morsels of ladywriting, with beginnings, middles, and ends. I blame the Internet and Saturn’s return.
My favorite discovery this year was Canadian bookseller Deborah Willis, whose debut collection Vanishing and Other Stories really floored me. Willis has this airy, almost giggly writing voice that sounds like a Valley Girl gifted with an Oxford education (example: “What I did understand, later but still way before Claudia did, was that it was impossible. That we could never break free. No matter what we did, we could never separate them from us. Our bodies were built by the lentils and flax they’d fed us. Their bone structure lingered in our faces.”) The title story in her collection is told by a woman whose neurotic author father mysteriously left his attic office one day and just never returned—the narrator is still stunned by it after so many years, this spectral longing, this losing a person due to the fact that they simply do not wish to be found. If you have time to read one more short story this year, consider making that one it.
Willis’ work reminded me a bit, but not too much, of Aimee Bender’s wonderful, casual magical realism, which I am (utterly, blushingly) ashamed to say was a 2010 revelation. Her latest novel, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake–about people who eat their feelings in every literal way–was one of my favorite long reads this year, but I found myself gravitating more often in quiet moments to her debut story collection, The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, which contains one of the best descriptions of losing love I’ve found. A woman’s lover experiences “reverse evolution,” becoming a monkey, then a salamander-like primitive creature that she must let out to sea. “Sometimes I think he’ll wash up on shore,” she writes. “A naked man with a startled look. Who has been to history and back.” And isn’t that what we all want from past loves? Bewilderment and a sudden return to our stoop. Point: Bender.
Last cold front, I dove headfirst in the Mary Gaitskill oeuvre after seeing her read at the Center for Fiction early in the year, gobbling down Don’t Cry and Bad Behavior (again, deep shame of not getting there sooner). I also found and courted and decided to settle in with Amy Bloom, particularly Come to Me—which was the winner in the “story openings I wish I’d written” category: “I wasn’t surprised to find myself in the back of Mr. Klein’s store, wearing only my undershirt and panties, surrounded by sable.”
The last woman-penned story collection I read was Michele Latiolais’ forthcoming Widow, which is weird and sad and compulsive and continues to stick to my ribs. Latiolais writes about grief in such a raw way—she joins the general pantheon of No-More-Husband literature (high priestess: J-Did), but her style is so unique as to be another genre altogether.
And also! Danielle Evans’ Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, which nails so much in so little space.
Rachel Syme | 11 books mentioned 3 min read
A Year in Reading: V.V. Ganeshananthan
V.V. Ganeshananthan December 18, 2008 | 11 books mentioned 3
V.V. Ganeshananthan’s first novel, Love Marriage, was published in April by Random House. She lives in New York.Edan Lepucki recommended it last year; I’m going to recommend it this year. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao astonishes me more every time I think about it, every time I discuss it with a friend or a student, every time I flip to a favorite passage again. What delightful nerdery to see how many of the references I get! Beyond that, I enjoy the incredible feat of craftsmanship and passion. The novel does a number of remarkable things. At the moment, I’m appreciating how its structure allows it to deal with ideas of community and belonging. The story, juggled between protagonist Oscar and narrator Yunior, simultaneously acknowledges and undermines stereotypes – as Yunior generalizes (sometimes carelessly, but often affectionately) about his own Dominican communities, he also tells the tale of their singular, beloved misfit: Oscar, who has to constantly insist on his own Dominican identity. I love this epic and I’ll read it again next year, I’m sure.A Perfect Man, by Naeem Murr. When I picked this gorgeous book up, I was stunned by the depth of its world. Murr’s canny, sharp, sympathetic portrayal of children and adolescents kept me riveted.I’m finishing off the year reading A Golden Age, by Tahmima Anam. I’m not done with it yet, but I suspect it won’t take me long – the take on the Bangladesh War is great, and telling the story from the widow Rehana’s point of view gives the story a different freshness and sympathy.More from A Year in Reading 2008
V.V. Ganeshananthan | 11 books mentioned 3
A Year in Reading: Susan Straight
Susan Straight December 18, 2012 | 11 books mentioned 1 3 min read
A Year in Reading: Isaac Fitzgerald
Isaac Fitzgerald December 2, 2014 | 11 books mentioned 1 2 min read
As you might expect from a David Mitchell novel, it’s big, ambitious, and pretty.
Isaac Fitzgerald | 11 books mentioned 1 2 min read
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Screw True Detective; Poldark Is The Show to Watch This Summer
Kelly Faircloth
masterpiece theater
It’s really surprising how much of the latest Masterpiece Theater production I spent wanting to lick this dude’s abs.
Look, True Detective is boring. The first season was great, but it worked because the two leads had insane chemistry and something approaching a sense of humor. I made it maybe five minutes into the Season Two premiere—just long enough for Colin Farrell to announce “I welcome judgment” before bailing. If that trips your switch by all means have a blast, but personally I’d rather just watch Mildred Pierce for the seven millionth time.
Fortunately, there’s a Sunday night alternative, and that’s Poldark, airing on Masterpiece Theater on PBS at the exact same time as True Detective. It’s a remake of a beloved 1970s adaptation of a series of novels written in the ‘40s and ‘50s, and it’s full of abs and long, beautiful shots of the Cornwall countryside. And it plays like Poldark’s adventures are plain and simply in the service of being pleasing to the female gaze. It’s the objectification rodeo. It’s perhaps the most perfect instance of counter-programming in the history of the medium.
Our hero, Ross Poldark (played by Aidan Turner, erstwhile Tolkien dwarf), returns from the American Revolution to discover that his father’s dead, his inheritance is a pile of poorly tended rocks, and his childhood sweetheart Elizabeth is engaged to his cousin Francis (who quickly emerges as a real shithead). What’s more, Elizabeth—encouraged by her dynastically obsessed mother—actually goes through with the marriage, quickly making it clear that these two won’t be riding off into the sunset together.
Instead, they’re stuck as neighbors and social acquaintances. It’s awkward as hell, and made worse by the fact that Elizabeth isn’t really attracted to Francis, and Ross’s uncle quite clearly sees Ross as more capable than his own son. (Which he is.) Everybody likes Ross and nobody likes Francis. Just a real stew of family dysfunction—which of course makes for entertaining television.
Did I mention that Ross is broke as hell? His house is such a shambles there are chickens roaming free inside. He has to rebuild his entire estate (which wasn’t much to start with) with his bare hands, basically. His tenants pitch in when they can because they actually feel sorry for him. He does a lot of very smoldering horseback riding and rock-stacking as he tries to figure out what he’s gonna do to pull this thing out of the hole on his own two shoulders. (His strong, wide, often bare shoulders.)
He’s also cut from very different cloth than, say, Darcy, and this isn’t Downton Abbey. It’s vastly earthier (which is of course fitting for a show set in the Eighteenth Century). Ross wouldn’t give a handful of beans for polite society. He’s not interested in making a brilliant match with a young woman fresh out of the schoolroom. He cares naught for society. Fortunately he does not spent much time saying this out loud, choosing instead to saunter around Cornwall in a dirty shirt doing manual labor. It’s all very swashbuckling, despite the fact nobody ever gets on a boat or draws a sword.
There’s also a surprisingly number of opportunities for outright ogling, considering it’s Masterpiece—not usually what you’d consider the Beefcake Variety Hour. Has any period drama not set on a pirate ship ever found quite so many opportunities to bare its male lead’s chest? You’ll enjoy if you want something with the hooting-and-hollering opportunities of Outlander, minus the bleak late-season storylines. (So far, anyway!)
Then there’s red-headed Demelza, whom Ross rescues in the first episode when she goes charging into the middle of a dogfight to rescue her pet. She quickly comes to work as his kitchen maid but if you’ve ever seen, oh, any movie, it’s very clear she’s a competing romantic interest. She’s a delightful rando. She spends a lot of time wandering around the fields and singing quietly to herself. She’s great.
PBS sent Jezebel a peek at the first half of the season, and there’s almost something Empire-like number of out-of-nowhere events crammed into a single hour. In the first episode alone, Ross returns, Elizabeth marries, Ross rescues and hires Demelza, Demelza leaves but comes back. In the second episode, last night’s, there’s a ball, a thwarted romance, some shenanigans involving a mine, and a duel. If you don’t like a plotline, sit tight for twenty minutes and you’ll probably get another one. It’s wonderfully soapy. It’s a far cry from “What is it, Sebastian? I’m arranging matches.”
Plus Cornwall is so god-almighty gorgeous that after an episode and a half I was trying to figure out how to make a summer vacation to Cornwall work financially. It’s that stunning. Also, at one point Ross goes swimming in a bright, bright blue sea. Buck-ass naked.
Screw True Detective. Watch Poldark.
Contact the author at kelly@jezebel.com.
Photos via screencap; Courtesy of Robert Viglasky/Mammoth Screen for MASTERPIECE.
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GFA-supported Workers Use Boats for Rescue and Relief Efforts in Flood-Hit Kerala
Aug 22, 2018 | World
Long-term ‘desperate need’ likely as thousands lose everything, reports ministry leader appealing for more ‘helping hands’
STONEY CREEK, ON, August 22, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ — GFA-supported workers (formerly: Gospel for Asia, www.gfa.ca) are stepping up efforts to help with rescue and relief efforts in India’s flood-stricken Kerala state, as the death toll and number of displaced people in the worst flooding in nearly a century continue to climb.
Though rains have mostly subsided, an unknown number of people are still stranded or without food and water, and resources at packed relief camps have been stretched. More than 300 have died as a result of the flooding, and “thousands remain marooned,” according to BBC News.
GFA-supported teams have used boats to search for and rescue some of the missing, and visited relief camps to deliver urgently needed supplies, including medicines, food, water and toiletries. Workers at GFA-supported Bridge of Hope centres have also been distributing supplies.
GFA founder, Dr. K.P. Yohannan, who visited relief camps to help with the distributions, thanked those who have given money to help the people of Kerala in desperate need.
“You are so far away from us, but actually you are here, through your prayers and your kindness, and together we are doing it,” he said in a video report from one of the relief camps. “And Jesus said, ‘When you do this, you do it for me,’ and that’s the most important thing. Thank you again for being used by God to care for the poor and wipe their tears.”
Dr. Daniel Johnson, the leader of GFA’s-supported medical ministry which has been helping with the relief effort, told how he and the rescue team he was part of had to spend the night in the upper floor of a flooded home because they were unable to return to their base in the dark.
One man who joined with GFA-supported workers spoke of working for eight hours to save his mother-in-law and some of her neighbours.
“We were all in neck-deep or chest-deep flood waters,” he said. “It became like Noah’s time when floods destroyed all.” Eventually, by “God’s grace,” they were able to get to safety.
Even as the immediate crisis ends, the need for help will continue for a long time, Yohannan said. Tens of thousands have been affected by the monsoon, he said, and “it will take years before any of them have any normal life, because they have lost everything.”
Yohannan appealed for continued prayer and support for those in “desperate need” in the region.
“This flooding has devastated crops and completely ruined homes,” he said. “It will take the helping hands of many around the world for the people of Kerala to get their feet back on dry ground.”
Donations to support GFA’s disaster relief work in Kerala can be made at www.gfa.ca/flood.
GFA (formerly: Gospel for Asia, www.gfa.ca) and its worldwide affiliates have—for almost 40 years—provided humanitarian assistance and spiritual hope to millions across Asia, especially among those who have yet to hear the Good News. Last year, this included more than 70,000 children, free medical services in over 1,200 villages and remote communities, 4,000 wells drilled, 11,000 water filters installed, Christmas gifts for more than 200,000 needy families, and spiritual teaching available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry.
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Tag Archives: Dick Maas
1/8/14: From the Sublime to the Ridiculous
action-adventure, B-movies, Bounty Killer, dark comedies, De Noorderlingen, Dick Maas, Drifter, evil corporations, foreign films, forests, isolated communities, Mad Max, Mary Death, Netherlands, post-Apocalyptic, Road Warrier, sainthood, saints, Stagecoach, The Northerners, Westerns, white collar criminals
Hello, fellow cinematic wanderers! This installment will cover the films that were watched this Wednesday, including a confounding bit of strangeness from the Netherlands and another fun/dumb action/adventure. Saddle up and let’s ride out.
When I was a wee lad, one of my greatest thrills was going to our local video and browsing the stacks for new material. I usually went by the covers (the more gory and outrageous, the better), the stars (anything with Eastwood, Bronson, etc…) and, occasionally, the title itself. I’ve made some wonderful discoveries this way, films that have become like friends to me over the years.
One of the films that I selected based solely on its title was Amsterdamned. C’mon, now: look at the title…Amsterdamned. How could I pass it up? The film was about a wet-suit bedecked serial killer hiding in the canals of Amsterdam, popping out periodically to slay unknowing tourists and quickly became one of my favorite cop/killer stories. Amsterdamned was directed by the wonderfully named Dick Maas, a director/producer that I’ve been following since I first picked up that video tape in the late ’80s. Maas is something of a Netherlands institution, directing twenty-four films and producing another twenty-six since the mid ’70s. As of late, Maas made a pretty good splash with 2010’s Saint (Sint), probably the best evil Santa Claus ever made (sorry, Rare Exports…).
All of this is a long-winded way of getting us to The Northerners (De Noorderlingen). I’ve had my eye on this little curiosity for a while, so imagine my complete surprise and delight when my old buddy Dick Maas’ name turned up as producer in the opening credits. As soon as I saw that, I knew I was in for one helluva ride.
It’s no hyperbole to say that this was, easily, one of the strangest films I’ve ever seen, much closer to a Guy Maddin flick than anything else. The premise is simple, yet almost nightmarish: in the ‘late ’50s, a fancy new housing development is touted as the wave of the future in Holland. One street in the development is built and filled with houses and businesses, while the rest is touted to be coming in 1960. Two years later, the development has been abandoned, leaving only one populated street midst a desolate wasteland. The residents have, likewise, been abandoned to their own devices and lives…extremely strange lives, as it were.
We’re introduced to each of the various families in turn. The film mostly centers around young Thomas and his parents. His father is the perpetually horny “town” butcher: his only hobby appears to be trying unsuccessfully to have sex with his thoroughly turned-off wife. When the butcher persists, nearly to the point of rape, his wife retreats completely into her worship of St. Francis (complete with living St. Francis statue and bird). She begins to starve herself, inching ever closer to sainthood as the town gathers outside their house to worship at her bedside. Poor Thomas retreats into the safety of national news events, dressing up like Lumumba, the Congolese prime minister he sees every night on TV.
We have the local bully, Fat Willie, who lives with his mother and menaces Thomas from atop a ridiculously small bike. Plagge, the town postman, makes a daily habit of retreating to the tiny forest situated near the town, where he reads and burns most of the mail he’s supposed to deliver. Plagge is best friends with Thomas: he assists him in dressing up like Lumumba by playing the legs, as Thomas sits on his shoulders draped in a huge coat. The postman’s arch-enemy is Anton, the town’s authority figure. Anton serves as the local police/fire department/busybody (and, possibly, mayor), which essentially means that he sticks his nose into everyone’s business constantly, despite being unable to make love to his voracious wife.
Into this hearty stew of neuroses is dropped a pair of travelling missionaries and the African native they’ve brought back as a souvenir of sorts. Feeling a primal connection to Lumumba, Thomas frees the native, setting off a chain of events that will lead to murder, sainthood and several different shades of come-uppance. The film manages to tie all of these loose ends into a perfect bow by the end, no mean feat when faced with so much disparate insanity.
The Notherners is one of those films that you’ll either love or hate. Personally, I loved the hushed, almost funereal atmosphere, which bumped up nicely against some almost Jodorowsky-ian touches (the statue of St. Francis coming to life; a strange forest nymph that may or may not be the previously unseen female nose monkey; the increasingly strange behavior of Anton; Martha’s self-saintification). The film is also full of gorgeous static shots and long takes, making it a true pleasure to look at. There’s some truly funny material here, too, although the humor is decidedly pitch black. The film was written and directed by Alex van Warmerdam, who also played the part of the puckish Plagge.
This is a strange film but one that I found myself thinking about more and more after it was over. In the best possible way, Dick Maas has struck again.
As of late, I appear to be in a bit of a B-movie frenzy. We had Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters the other day and now I bring you Bounty Killer. I’ll admit that what originally drew me to this film was the promised storyline of hunting white-collar criminals in a post-apocalyptic landscape. I like nothing more than seeing corporate America get its just desserts, even if only in a movie, so this became a must-see. Luckily, there’s more than concept holding this one together.
Right off the bat, it should be noted that Bounty Killer is a very, very self-aware film. Very. This can become a problem when trying to craft a quality B-picture, since the best Bs weren’t trying to be cult films: they were just born that way. This self-aware tactic, however, worked wonders for Hobo with a Shotgun and the Grindhouse double-bill and, for the most part, works well here. If anything, the best parts of Bounty Killer (and there are many) remind me of Joss Wheadon’s Firefly: just the right balance of modern sass, sarcasm, old West and Mad Max.
The film is pretty simple: in the future, rich corporations have royally fucked over the U.S., left it to burn in the midst of armed “brand wars” and absconded with all of the money. To combat this, a council of nine arises and charges a group of highly trained killers with the task of finding and bringing these miscreants to justice. These Bounty Killers track down the suit-and-tie misanthropes, delete them from the earth in various blood-drenched ways and receive fat paychecks from the council. They are also the only thing to pass for celebrities or heroes in the burned out world they exist in.
Enter Drifter and Mary Death, two of the best BKs. They end up going on a mission to bring down the Yellow Ties, the leading white collar gang. As can be expected, much blood is spilled, many pithy quips are quipped, loyalties are tested, betrayals are had and the hope of our future rests on their mighty shoulders.
Despite going into this expecting to turn my brain completely off, I found that I only had to cut it to 50% power. Bounty Killer, despite all appearances, is actually a pretty savvy, clever film. In fact, certain sequences like the “stagecoach” composed of a VW bus pulled by a team of motorcycles and the inspired title sequence are absolutely genius, possessing a truly bezerk sense of energy. Other sequences (the obligatory training sequence, almost any scene that Mary Death has to carry by herself) have the unfortunate feel of filler, spinning their wheels until the next big action sequence.
And what sequences they are! Splitting the difference between spaghetti western and post-apocalyptic survival tale (the box art calls this “The Road Warrior meets Kill Bill” and that’s pretty accurate), the fights are truly something to behold, especially the aforementioned stagecoach bit and the absolutely thrilling final battle. The film generally looks pretty good, too, with only a few moments falling prey to overly glossy CG effects.
All in all, this was a really fun film. The acting was suitable, the action was outstanding, the gore was surprising (there were at least three points where I found myself saying “Wow” under my breath) and the sense of humor was strong. Plus, you get a surprise appearance from one of the most genuinely insane actors in Hollywood. I won’t tell you who it is but you might just make lemonade in your pants when you find out.
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The Caribbean reef shark was originally described from off the coast of Cuba as Platypodon perezi by Poey in 1876. Bigelow and Schroeder later described the same species as Carcharhinus springeri in 1944 and the reef shark appears in much literature under this scientific name. The genus name Carcharhinus is derived from the Greek “karcharos” = sharpen and “rhinos” = nose. The currently accepted valid name is C. perezi (Poey 1876).
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The Reef story started 25 years ago when two brothers from Argentina Fernando and Santiago Aguerre acted on an idea to produce high quality, comfortable yet stylish sandals. Inspired by their love of the California lifestyle and surfing culture, the brothers moved to California in the early 80's and found Reef sandals. With a tiny amount of start up capital of $4000 and after lots of hard work Reef is now widely considered to be the number one sandal brand in the world.
The Caribbean reef shark is found throughout tropical waters, particularly in the Caribbean Sea. This shark’s range includes Florida, Bermuda, the northern Gulf of Mexico, Yucatan, Cuba, Jamaica, Bahamas, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil. It is one of the most abundant sharks around the Bahamas and the Antilles. Although Caribbean reef sharks are found near reefs in southern Florida, surveys using long-line gear off the east coast of Florida reveal that Caribbean reef sharks are extremely rare north of the Florida Keys.
The Caribbean Reef Shark, also called the Carcharhinus Perezi in the scientific community, is a member of the requiem shark species. They are mostly found on the East coast of America (Atlantic coast) and southwards. The structure of this shark is streamlined and robust and can be easily confused with other sharks in its family. When you look up close, they have an extra rear tip on the second dorsal fin. The first dorsal fin is slightly angled or curved and the gills slits are also longer than most other varieties of sharks.
Grey reef sharks are fast-swimming, agile predators that feed primarily on free-swimming bony fishes and cephalopods. Their aggressive demeanor enables them to dominate many other shark species on the reef, despite their moderate size. Many grey reef sharks have a home range on a specific area of the reef, to which they continually return. However, they are social rather than territorial. During the day, these sharks often form groups of five to 20 individuals near coral reef drop-offs, splitting up in the evening as the sharks begin to hunt. Adult females also form groups in very shallow water, where the higher water temperature may accelerate their growth or that of their unborn young. Like other members of its family, the grey reef shark is viviparous, meaning the mother nourishes her embryos through a placental connection. Litters of one to six pups are born every other year.
A reef is a bar of rock, sand, coral or similar material, lying beneath the surface of water. Many reefs result from abiotic processes (i.e. deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock outcrops, and other natural processes), but the best known reefs are the coral reefs of tropical waters developed through biotic processes dominated by corals and coralline algae.
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Hollywood Film Companies Bring Cultural Innovation and Industry Expertise to Dachang Film and Media Industrial Park
GU AN, China, December 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — China Fortune Land Development Co., Ltd. (CFLD) today held a press conference and signing ceremony to officially unveil two Hollywood partners at the Dachang Film and Media Industrial Park. CFLD signed strategic cooperation agreements with two Hollywood companies, Relativity Education, represented by President Glenn Kalison and Asia Partner Bradley Hong, and BASE FX. Chinese film and media companies, talent agencies, film institutes and investors attended the event.
In keeping with its core developing principle, "an industrial park represents an industrial cluster," CFLD has distinguished itself as one of the leading operators of industry sector-based urban towns in China. CFLD is committed to promoting talent in the movie and creative industry while leveraging its value chain to introduce, integrate and grow the industry.
"Echoing the rapid development of China’s entertainment industry in recent years, attention has turned to fostering growth of movie and TV talent as well as advancing elements of post-production and special effects," said Hu Zhenyu, Vice President of CFLD. "The Dachang Film and Media Industrial Park will join hands with leading Hollywood institutions to promote industry standards and contribute to China’s rapidly-developing movie, TV and online video industries. By creating an industrial park that welcomes both established companies and aspiring entrepreneurs, the Dachang Film and Media Industrial Park will attract leading companies, encourage industry players to come together, and tap into opportunities in the value chain."
The Dachang Film and Media Industrial Park is considered a crown jewel of the entertainment industry. Its expansive property includes eight functional zones for talent development, innovative workshops, high-tech productions, post-production and special effects, digital experiences and set design, R&D, and themed experiences. Driven by its goal to innovate and internationalize, the Dachang Film and Media Industrial Park strives to integrate various players in the film industry and become a pioneer of cultural and creative industrial parks around the world.
New landmark in the creative and cultural industry
Situated 30 km to the east of Beijing’s Central Business District (CBD), the Dachang Film and Media Industrial Park is located next to the Chaobai River, the longest river in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. The strategic location and picturesque environment attract investors to the property.
With support from Relativity Education, an education company focused on the entertainment industry, and BASE FX, a professional post-production and special effects company, the Dachang Film and Media Industrial Park will gradually upgrade its residential and service facilities to include classrooms, apartments, and transportation options. Furthermore, it will set up a "strategic committee," a movie and media talent pool, as well as a talent development management center. With its international vision and innovative aspirations, the Dachang Film and Media Industrial Park will continue to attract leading companies and welcome other Chinese and foreign professional movie and media production companies and training schools.
Leading international players to upgrade local industry
Following the signing of the strategic cooperation agreement, Relativity Education is the first film and media training company to join the Dachang Film and Media Industrial Park under the "talent development" program. Together with CFLD, the two companies will grow and develop the next generation of elite movie and media professionals in China as well as create high quality projects.
As the only international training school in China anchored by a Hollywood studio, Relativity Education will offer a complete movie and media curriculum that focuses on training international screenwriters, directors, and producers. Experienced teachers from the United States specializing in media training will create tailor-made courses. Hollywood experts and creative talent will also be invited to teach classes and workshops.
BASE FX is a world-renowned post-production, special effects and animation studio. It is one of the first special effects companies in the industry to come to the Dachang Film and Media Industrial Park as a strategic partner of CFLD. BASE FX looks to further expand its team and contribute to building a world-class training center to educate post-production and special effects professionals in China.
About China Fortune Land Development Co., Ltd. (CFLD)
China Fortune Land Development Co., Ltd. (ticker number: 600340) was founded in 1998 and is a leading industrial park operator in China. CFLD now has more than RMB 100 billion in corporate assets and its overall sales volume in the first three quarters of 2014 reached RMB 37.505 billion, an increase of 51.16 percent over the same period from last year. CFLD paid a total of RMB 2.576 billion in tax in 2013 and its cumulative tax payment since its founding reaching RMB 9.122 billion.
Striving to become a leading operator of internationalized and industry sector-based urban towns, CFLD is steadfast in adhering to the philosophy of "integrated and mutual development of industrial parks and new towns," and has set building industrial zones as its core business. At present, CFLD has invested in the development and operation of industry-based new towns primarily in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta and Shenyang-Rim region, its operations spans across 20 provinces and municipalities in China including Beijing, Hebei, Tianjin, Liaoning, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
About BASE FX
The first post production company tenant in Dachang Film and Media Industrial Park, Base FX is the only visual effects and animation company in Asia that has won three Emmy Awards. As a strategic partner of Lucasfilm, and an important service provider for Disney on film, television, animation and theme park projects, Base FX has been the leader in China in terms of VFX production quality and business scale. Base FX’s VFX team will put her best efforts to build a high-end VFX training base in Dachang, which will foster VFX talents of international standard for Dachang Film and Media Industrial Park.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier, Boardwalk Empire Seasons 3, Pacific Rim, Black Sails, The Pacific, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mission Impossible 4, G.I. Joe2: Retaliation, Looper, The Last Stand, Clash of the Titans 2, Star Trek 2, Olympus Has Fallen, The Flowers Of War, Finding Mr. Right, King’s Dinner, The Four, Sacrifice, A Touch of Sin.
About Relativity Education
Relativity Education, a division of Relativity, is an education company focused on the entertainment industry. Headquartered in Los Angeles, it is the first dedicated education effort from a Hollywood motion picture studio. Relativity Education supports Relativity School, an accredited branch campus of Hussian School of Art, offering an array of film, media, performing arts, and graphic arts BFA programs in addition to its signature summer workshops. With curriculum developed in collaboration with industry insiders, taught by working professionals, and operated from an active production studio in Los Angeles, the programs are all built around the core tenants of collaboration and entrepreneurship.
About Relativity
Relativity (relativitymedia.com) is a next-generation global media company engaged in multiple aspects of content production and distribution, including movies, television, fashion, sports, digital and music. More than just a collection of entertainment-related businesses, Relativity is a content engine with the ability to leverage each of these business units, independently and together, to create content across all mediums, giving consumers what they want, when they want it.
Relativity Studios, the company’s largest division, has produced, distributed or structured financing for more than 200 motion pictures, generating more than $17 billion in worldwide box-office revenue and earning 60 Oscar nominations. Relativity’s films include Oculus, Safe Haven, Act of Valor, Immortals, Limitless, and The Fighter. Upcoming releases include Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death and Black or White.
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hollywood-film-companies-bring-cultural-innovation-and-industry-expertise-to-dachang-film-and-media-industrial-park-300013998.html
ENT, FLM, MLM, PUB
Secure Mobile Phones a Global Trend: Coolpad Bodun Enjoys Phenomenal Sales
INMOTION to Showcase New Self-balancing Smart Vehicles at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show
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Home A & E #OscarsNotSoWhite, For Now
Illustration by Amy Chase
#OscarsNotSoWhite, For Now
Stephanie Torres
The Oscar nominations for 2017 were announced this Tuesday and they showed a dramatically different set of nominees compared to previous years when the Oscars were “so white.” However this no longer applies, at least for this year. Goodbye #OscarsSoWhite.
I was not surprised by the fact that the Academy decided to change up their nominations this year. It was expected after all that backlash and protest they received, but there is no denying the progressively dominant presence of movies about African-Americans.
Six African-American actors were nominated this year. Mahershala Ali was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in “Moonlight.” Denzel Washington was nominated for Best Actor his performance in “Fences” and Ruth Negga was nominated for Best Actress for her role in “Loving.” Also for the first time in Oscar history, three African-American actresses are nominated for Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis (“Fences”), Naomie Harris (“Moonlight”), and Octavia Spencer (“Hidden Figures”).
Dev Patel (“Lion”) is only the third Indian actor to be nominated for an Oscar. The last actor of Indian descent to be nominated was Ben Kingsley for his work in “House of Sand and Fog.” The short list of Indian actors with Oscar nominations displays the Academy’s lack of Asian representation, but Patel’s nomination is definitely a stepping stone to a more diversified Academy.
In addition to this great set of actor nominations are the best picture nominations: Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight,” a story centered around a black man’s passage from at-risk pre-adolescence to delinquent adulthood, and “Fences”, an adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning stage drama, directed by and starring Denzel Washington. They are some of the best movies of 2016, and definitely worthy of their Oscar nominations.
All these nominations of non-white, predominantly African-American-directed movies and actors are a sign of growth for the Academy. I was expecting there to be at most two non-white nominees this year, given Hollywood’s racism and the Academy’s lack of diversity. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The nominations were all deserving, and received the recognition they deserved.
The Academy still has a long way to go, though. Latinos, Asians, and Native-Americans continue to be underrepresented in the industry. Yes, two Latino men, Alfonso Cuarón won Best Director and Film Editing for his film “Gravity” and Alejandro G. Iñarritu won for Best Picture, screenplay, and director for his films “Birdman” and “The Revenant.” This happened in two consecutive years, but that does not change that fact that the majority of the nominees are white. The Academy needs to widen their view of what “people of color” means, which is not only African Americans.
As for some notable Oscar snubs, “Finding Dory” was surprisingly not nominated for an award this year. I assumed they decided to nominate more original films rather than a sequel. “Sully” was also not nominated, which is weird since it received praise from multiple sources such as Rotten Tomatoes, Wall Street Journal, etc. It was praised for being a compelling, focused, and sharp film with Oscar-worthy performances from Tom Hanks and Aaron Eckhart, not to mention that director Clint Eastwood has had plenty of Oscar love in the past. I assume the Academy wanted something a bit more original and not so old-fashioned than a tale about a heroic older man.
As for other nominations, such as Best Actress, the Academy needs to give someone else a chance and stop nominating Meryl Streep every year. Amy Adams delivered amazing performances in “Nocturnal Animals” and “Arrival.” Taraji P. Henson’s stunning performance in “Hidden Figures” was not given a nomination. It is safe to say that the Academy is a bit biased toward Meryl Streep.
Nonetheless, the Oscars seem to be headed toward a much more diverse future, and I am certainly looking forward to watching them next month.
The Mighty Loaf February 1, 2017 at 11:36 pm
This is dank gurl, keep it up. Get shrekt!!
Candy April 26, 2017 at 5:18 am
Listen up Donnie this is 100% Hendrys fault!! Correct me if im wrong but did Hendry sign Soriano when the Ritektcs owned the Cubs? Mmmmmm NO! The Ricketts have NO money NONE!
cheap car insurace Chesapeake May 1, 2017 at 2:30 pm
I just love that picture…it really does express it and I need to do just exactly that. I am fighting to keep my joy as circumstances hit me, but then again, isn't that what real joy is? Joy that doesn't come from great circumstances! Great story and post!
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The Hard Rock Review
Because you don't wanna miss a thing.
« Steven Tyler & Joe Perry on the Jonathan Ross Show
Maybe They Shouldn’t… »
Whatever Happened to the Thin White Duke?
Bowie broke nearly ten years of radio silence when he released his new hit single Where Are We Now two days ago. The track rocketed straight to number one here in the UK, and news of the spaceman’s return rippled out across the cosmos, or the blogosphere at least. People are hailing his new track as a ‘brilliant’ return to form and an ‘outstanding’ effort. Does it deserve the hype? No, not at all. Here’s why
When Bowie clawed his way into the public eye in the early 70’s it was the novelty, the strange, alien vitality of his music that made it so appealing.
He was a writer of unwatched quality, but also an excellent innovator, and a keen pioneer. Five Years broke new ground, Aladdin Sane was a smorgasbord of complicated and wholly original textures, heroes was novelty personified. Bowie’s latest offering, however, is practically just a rehash of his 1976 cover Wild Is the Wind. Everything, from the gentle movement of the brass, the strange, lilting rhythm the gradual, almost imperceptible lifts, all belong to his earlier, and much better work. In fact the only thing that really sets this new track apart is that it lacks the lyrical power, or the intensity of Bowie’s earlier slow songs. It’s more detached more hollow than even the most solemn of Bowie’s synth pop dirges.
I can’t help but feel a little disappointed that, after a ten year hiatus, the ‘chameleon of rock’ has proffered up stale fare rather than a sumptuous banquet of vibrant new music. While Where Are We Now is certainly immediately recognizable, while it still evokes that same, dizzying sense of nostalgia, it’s more a product of the Bowie we know, than the one we love.
This entry was posted on January 10, 2013 at 4:07 pm and is filed under David Bowie, Music, Music Review, News, Pop, Review, Rock with tags Bowie, David Bowie, Music Review, New Release, New Song, On Trend, Where Are We Now?, Ziggy Stardust. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
3 Responses to “Whatever Happened to the Thin White Duke?”
Every Record Tells A Story Says:
Apparently the rest of the album is more up tempo. I liked the track – let’s see what the rest is like.
Peter Cook - The Rock'n'Roll Business Blogger Says:
I have a romantic relationship with this song, but know what you mean re the relative safety of it. I guess Bowie has nothing to prove to us?
Rex Bussey Says:
I hadn’t thought about it like that actually. I guess if anyone has earned the right to rest on their laurels it’s Bowie, and he is getting older, it just seems like a bit of a missed opportunity to me. Still, as you say, a perfectly good slow song.
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The Haygoods Story
5 brothers, 1 sister (current show line-up).
27 years playing music together in Branson.
7,000 concerts for over 6,000,000 people worldwide.
Longest running, most successful first generation show in the history of Branson, Missouri.
Set the SOLD OUT record in Branson with 80 SOLD OUT shows last season.
One Talented Family
The Haygoods grew up in humble beginnings in the backwoods of Boerne, Texas. In 1983, at the age of 5, the oldest brother Timothy was watching “Sesame Street” on PBS and world famous violinist, Itzhak Perlman, was performing on the show. Afterwards, Timothy was inspired and begged his mom to get him into lessons, so Mom Haygood enrolled him into classical violin lessons. Timothy’s brothers grew up watching him play the violin and they wanted to be just like him, so they began learning the instrument as well, except for Patrick who chose the marimbas as his instrument. In 1987, Timothy began taking country fiddle lessons from famous Texas fiddler Frenchie Burke. Pretty soon the Haygood kids were singing in harmony, playing fiddle tunes, and dancing as part of the act. As children, they played music and sang at festivals and fairs across the Southern United States.
In 1993, the family moved to Branson, Missouri and began performing daily shows at Silver Dollar City. For eight years, the family grew up at the theme park, performing six shows a day, six days a week while taking music and dance lessons as well as completing schoolwork. The drive and persistence of oldest brother Timothy resulted in the family show becoming the most successful, highest rated show in the history of Silver Dollar City. The Haygoods completed over 6,000 shows during their time at Silver Dollar City.
With a generous loan from Grandma and Grandpa Haygood, The Haygood brothers took a giant risk and opened their own show on the Branson Strip in 2001. The move from a theme park to town was more than a location change, the three oldest Haygoods also took creative and financial control of the show and began to make their mark on the show and music scene. The Haygoods became the youngest performing family in the history of Branson to ever open their own show on the 76 Strip.
At the end of a tough first season, The Haygoods had to make the decision to push ahead despite financial hardships or to give up the music business and lead “normal” lives. The choice was clear and they set out to make their show the most exciting on the Branson Strip. With Dominic as music director, they began to take classic songs and put their own musical twist on them. Familiar songs were updated with modern dance moves and unique harmonies. At the same time, the always energetic Haygoods began reclaiming their childhood by filming their wild BMX and paraplane stunts which made them a YouTube sensation.
In 2009, The Haygoods set about creating their own original music with the hope of reaching a national audience. Daily jam sessions and boxing matches led to recording studios and bringing in producers to help refine their music. Their first album “Leaving It All Behind” was released in 2010. Without any radio support, record label support or even digital downloads, the album sold over 10,000 physical copies in its first two months of release. It went on to sell over 100,000 physical copies without any radio support at all.
In 2011, a huge change occurred in the show and brothers Aaron and Shawn both left to pursue careers outside of music. The brothers leaving the show was a monumental change for the remaining siblings but the parting of ways was amicable and understandable. Both Shawn and Aaron continue to pursue careers outside the music business today.
In the fall of 2011, The remaining six Haygoods took two very big steps in their careers, they teamed up with the RFD-TV Network, a cable channel distributed in over 50 million homes in the USA and many more worldwide, to create a reality/music television show. In addition, The Haygoods also agreed to move the live show to RFD-TV The Theatre, also in Branson, on the famous Highway 76 Strip.
The television show called “Adventures of The Haygoods” did extremely well on the RFD-TV Network and garnered very good Nielson ratings, especially for a completely unknown show.
During the winter of 2011, The Haygoods toured throughout China playing 30 shows in 20 major cities in under 35 days. The Chinese people loved The Haygoods so much that a security detail had to be assigned to them for their own protection! The Haygoods remember the China trip as one of the greatest adventures of their lives.
In 2012 and 2013, The Haygoods became the longest running most successful first generation show in Branson, Missouri and celebrated with a SOLD OUT 20th Anniversary Show with over 2,200 in attendance.
In 2014, The Haygoods moved their show and partnered with The Clay Cooper Theatre to build a brand new show experience, unlike anything ever seen in Branson. This show became incredibly successful with a phenomenal run of 62 SOLD OUT shows, setting a record in Branson.
In 2015, The Haygoods partnered with international star Barry Williams of The Brady Bunch fame to create a National TV show called “A Very Barry Branson.” This TV show explored Barry’s journey to Branson from Hollywood with The Haygoods assisting him in establishing his show in Branson, while also teaching him the country lifestyle along the way. This show premiered on the GAC Network in February of 2015. The success of the television show on GAC led The Haygoods to complete 72 sold out shows in Branson in 2015!
In 2016, The Haygoods kicked off their 24th season in Branson and once again set the sold out record in Branson for the most sold-out shows in one season with 72 SOLD OUT SHOWS!
In 2017, the Haygoods celebrated 25 years of performances by selling out over 75 shows in Branson! The Haygoods also released a second original music album entitled “The Lucky Ones” which was downloaded over 50,000 times on the internet resulting in music videos watched by over 200,000 fans!! Also, The Haygoods began taking the show on the road performing sold out shows in Dallas Texas and St. Louis.
In 2018 The Haygoods launched a new show experience and performed a full roster of 135 shows in Branson, Missouri selling out an incredible 80 shows! The Haygoods also took the Christmas show on the road selling out in Bartlesville OK, St. Louis MO and St. Joseph MO. The Haygoods spent an entire year in the studio as well recording their 3rd album of original music set to be released in Spring 2019.
The Haygoods spent the winter of 2019 working on a brand new show experience, once again reinventing themselves, adding more state of the art special effects, more routines, more music and more of what has made them such a long term success for their 27th Season in Branson. The Haygoods also plan on extensively touring in 2019 and are currently booking dates. Watch for more news!
The Haygoods have been incredibly blessed by fans all over the world and continue their epic run of shows into the foreseeable future. Thank you for being a part of The Haygood experience today! God Bless!
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NGO announces nation-wide cleanup
Students of Lý Thường Kiệt High School (Nha Trang) clean Nha Trang beach. Clean Up Việt Nam Day will be organised on Sunday throughout the country including HCM City, Hà Nội, Phú Quốc Island, and Hạ Long Bay. -- Photo rmit.edu.vn
HCM CITY-- Clean Up Việt Nam Day will be organised on Sunday throughout the country including HCM City, Hà Nội, Phú Quốc Island, and Hạ Long Bay.
The Clean Up Việt Nam Day concept is based on a very successful annual event in Australia in which over half a million participants go to streets, parks, beaches, and the bush to clean up.
“It is also about bringing communities together and raising awareness of the long-term benefits of keeping our urban and rural spaces free of litter,” Scott Alderson, director of NGO Clean up Việt Nam, said.
According to a recent study by environmental organisation Ocean Conservancy, Việt Nam, China, the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia are responsible for as much as 60 per cent of the plastic waste dumped into the oceans each year.
Clean Up Việt Nam seeks to engage and inspire youths, families, businesses, and communities to take action in changing the way they dispose waste and look at local community spaces.--VNS
Clean up Day
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Eddie Pitts
When Life Hands You A Tumor, Go Surf
Spencer Rooney
“Now, I surf everyday — no matter what.”
… and that’s straight from the doctor’s mouth. Dr. Brian Thornton isn’t the doctor you may be imagining with a white lab coat, a BMW and some of the worst handwriting in the modern world. Instead, he is a doctor of journalism. But, to be perfectly honest, I think he has way more experience in the water. He grew up on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, and for reasons involving his career as a journalist, has found himself in our humble surf community around 2007.
“I actually grew up on East Oahu because my dad, an Air Force fighter pilot, moved our family there when I was about 10,” Dr. Thornton said. “He retired there and bought a house near Niu Valley. I was lucky enough to start surfing on Oahu’s south shore, in places such as Diamond Head, Waikiki and Ala Moana.”
Dr. Thornton got his first bit of surfing in when his neighbor, a Hawaiian firefighter, was kind enough to take him surfing with his kids. “Since he worked 24 hours on and 48 hours off, he had more time to take all the kids surfing. I have been surfing about 50 years now.”
Photo | Eddie Pitts
Dr. Thornton would go on to graduate from the University of Hawaii, and lived in Honolulu, where he was a reporter, until he was in his mid-30s. Then, he moved to Maui and worked for the Maui News for four years before moving to the mainland to earn a Ph.D at the University of Utah.
“I have been teaching journalism for 22 years now, since earning my Ph.D, and I moved to Jax in 2007 from Illinois where I was a professor for eight years,” he said. “I moved to Florida to specifically be able to surf again. While I was at Northern Illinois University, I used to save up my vacation and go back home to Hawaii to surf.”
While that worked for awhile, surfing only once a year for a month in-between semesters wasn’t enough to satiate Dr. Thornton’s surfing fix. “I was offered a job at UNF and decided that while it was not Hawaii, it was better than Illinois. I could surf every day, and I decided to do that.”
I met Dr. Thornton two years ago in my second semester at UNF. He taught two of my courses as a communication major. I saw him maybe twice at the poles (his favorite local surf spot) when I was eager enough to wake up before noon.
During class, he had this peculiar habit of barely laughing at his jokes, then he would stop abruptly, and carry on to whatever topic he was discussing, and he wore a suit every day.
I got the impression he had done this so many times that his pretend laugh was just to motivate us (the students) to pay attention. I later learned exactly why he laughed that way … and now, so will you.
“They said it was supposed to kill me,” he said, then does that pretend laugh.
Dr. Thornton was told he had a benign brain tumor. It wasn’t cancerous, but it was growing — pressing against his eyes and his pituitary gland. He began having uncontrollable laughter, uncontrollable crying, and he was always, always cold.
“If you saw me in the water those days, I was the guy in a full suit in the middle of the summer.”
I thought he was kidding, but he literally, and physically, wore a full suit during the summer.
At the time, his doctors recommended two very different forms of treatment. Dr. Thornton said that one required going up through the nose and would entail basically digging the tumor out. “It was really scary,” he said after closing with that iconic, short burst of laughter. “But, there was one doctor, Dr. Gandhi who suggested not doing that operation, and instead doing chemotherapy. So, they blasted me with the chemotherapy.”
Now, as this suspenseful moment hangs in our heads, and we begin to wander through different scenarios, I would like to remind you that I just interviewed the good doctor. So, he’s still alive — and when it comes to the whereabouts of the tumor, it’s still there. But it’s so small now that it doesn’t have any power.
Dr. Thornton has decided to surf every single day ever since his complication was uncomplicated. He decided to do what he loves.
“When the brain tumor made me sick, I made a promise that once I got better, I would seize the day — and be sure to surf every day,” he said. “I have tried to do that pretty faithfully since 2007. I am almost always there at first light. When it is small, I paddle out, try to catch one wave, and then go home. When it is real choppy, same thing. When it is good, I will surf about two or three hours. I love it.”
To be completely honest, he’d rather be in Hawaii (duh), but he has certainly fallen in love with the First Coast as well.
“I miss Hawaii a lot. But it is expensive. I chose Jacksonville instead because of my love of the ocean,” Dr. Thornton told me. “It is a more affordable place than Hawaii that still lets me live near the ocean. I live in Atlantic Beach about a third of a mile from the beach.”
Despite the scare, Dr. Thornton remains dedicated to his goal, and now lives life to the fullest each day. Surfing and spending time in the ocean has long been a form of healing, and for Dr. Thornton, this is no different. The key? Having fun and not letting it become too serious.
“The most important thing about surfing for me is having fun. I was lucky enough to be able to interview the great Hawaiian surfer Rabbit Kekai once. He said the surfer who is having the most fun is the best surfer. I try to live by that motto.”
Tags: community, surf, surfing, UNF
Intern at Void. UNF Communication Senior. Photo Minor. Spencer has been surfing for 10 years, and he's been smiling for his whole life.
JAX PIER THURSDAY PM UPDATE
I want(ed) to drop out …
Swoop!: UNF Surf Squad takes 2nd at Nationals
Surf Medicine 101: Every surfer as a first responder
Watch: Faze Wave’s enjoyably creepy video for “The Game”
Mourning the Loss of Surf Spots of Yore
Breaking: New Jags WR Chris Conley surfs!
Saxon Wilson is the next big thing on a big board
Who Da Groms: These kids shred!
#1 in the 904: Sports & Entertainment
Just In Time: American Airlines scraps board bag fees
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John Fisher Weber, CFE, CPP
District Attorney Investigator for Comal County and the 63rd Judicial District in Texas, Master Peace Officer, ACFE Regent Emeritus
Interview by Cora Bullock; Photo by Mathew Sturtevant
I'm a CFE
As a district attorney investigator for Texas' Comal County and the 63rd Judicial District, Weber provides expertise on complex economic crime cases; two different district attorneys hold his commission. He also works with investigators from other jurisdictions on criminal investigations as requested and assists with court security as a grand jury bailiff. Weber also is vice president, COO and minority owner of Deaf Interpreter Services.
One of the reasons I do the work is for the victims. It's not necessarily the best way to meet people, but I feel sometimes I am their voice after they have been victimized. They have been some fine folks, too.
I was born and raised in upstate New York and received my B.A. in communications from St. John Fisher College, where my father had been registrar and a physics/chemistry professor for 25 years. I then obtained my master's degree from California State University Fullerton — my thesis project was "A Systems Analysis to the Prevention of Embezzlement."
I gravitated towards classes in criminal justice during my college career because I found them fascinating! I also was working retail loss prevention at the time. I eventually became a vice president of loss prevention for a multi-billion dollar company. Then I went to work for a district attorney and then to the Texas State Auditor's Office, where I was in charge of the special investigations unit (SIU) for seven years. Also during this time I went through the police academy; I wanted to work in law enforcement and eventually obtained my "Master Peace Officer" license.
During the time at the SIU, my wife was operating Deaf Interpreter Services Inc. I told her she needed to hire someone to handle risk management issues like insurance, policies, etc. A few days later she told me she found the person! I said, "Great. Who?" She said, "You!!" Once we came to the determination that she could afford me, the one caveat was I would continue to do my police work, so I kept working for two different district attorneys as a commissioned investigator part time.
While I have worked a lot of six- and seven-figure cases over the years, one that stands out was a case where the net result of the investigation, which originally looked like a kickback scheme, was the subject that was thought to be taking the kickbacks had actually been set up, framed. It was a great example of doing an ethical, complete investigation and letting the truth come out!
Another investigation that stands out was a case where the victim — the owner — asked if the company would ever get restitution from the embezzler. As the embezzler had some suspected drug abuse issues, I said probably not. Well, I was proven wrong, and the embezzler "cleaned up," and made restitution.
The CFE credential is applicable to my work in the private sector, government and law enforcement; it "works" so well in all three fields.
I would recommend CFEs set the highest standards and maintain their ethics and professionalism at all times. At the University of Texas' Governor's Senior Management Program, I learned a great management principle I quote to this day: "People support what they help create." Be open minded, be a teammate, accept there are folks who know more!
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Differences & Repetitions Wiki
A site for open source writing
Performing Scholarly Communication
Published by Ted Striphas on Wed, 08/25/2010 - 13:43
Words are not tools, but we give children language, pens, and notebooks as we give workers shovels and pickaxes.
—Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus (76)
If you’re like me, then chances are you’ve opened up or otherwise accessed this issue of Text and Performance Quarterly to stay on top of the latest developments in Performance Studies. That’s a sensible thing to do. Academic communities depend significantly on our willingness to share our latest research with our colleagues and to share in theirs in return. Journals are particularly well suited to this type of exchange, maybe even better than books. Because of the frequency with which periodicals are published and the specialized audiences they usually address, they’re able to offer more regular opportunities for fields or disciplines to reaffirm or challenge their discursive bonds. The question I want to pose is, should we expect even more from this type of exchange than we currently do?
The foregoing activities and a host of other ones fall under the rubric of “scholarly communication.” In its conventional usage, the term refers to both process and product, drawing on the two dominant senses of the word “communication” James Carey identified more than 35 years ago: the ritual (e.g., the periodic avowal of disciplinary solidarity) and the transmissive (e.g., the instrumental dissemination of research) (12). The claim I want to advance is that our expectations of academic publishing are linked to how we conceive of the “communication” part of “scholarly communication,”[fn]…and indeed to the “scholarly” part of “scholarly communication,” but that’s a different essay entirely.[/fn] and that the conventional usage hardly accounts for the range of phenomena with which periodical publishing in particular can be associated. I might even be tempted to say, paraphrasing Deleuze and Guattari, that words are not tools, but we give journals to academics as we give construction workers shovels and pickaxes.
Serials, indeed, are more than just obligatory tools of the academic trade. This becomes apparent as soon as we emphasize the performative dimensions of scholarly communication. By this I refer to the material transformations that result from a given communicative event and, relatedly, to the socially-inculcated habits that dispose us to engage repetitively—though too often unreflectively—in culturally charged activities (How to Do 6; Butler, Gender passim; Butler, Bodies 12-16; “Performing Writing”).[fn]Note that I am parsing the ritual, transmissive, and performative aspects of communication for analytical purposes only, recognizing that there is significant overlap between and among them.[/fn] I’ve addressed the first part of this definition elsewhere and at length, looking specifically at the political and economic consequences that result from our participation in a scholarly book and journal publishing industry that in recent years has come under increasing corporate control (Striphas, “Banality”; Striphas, “Acknowledged”). In what remains of this brief essay I want to home in mainly on the second part of the definition. Specifically, I want to explore the conditions under which some of our current journal publishing practices, or performances, first arose and to reflect on their pertinence today. Then, drawing on one unconventional publishing experiment I’ve initiated, I’ll offer a few ideas about how we might perform scholarly communication differently—that is, without simply giving in, in Judith Butler’s words, to “the compulsion to repeat” (Gender 145).[fn]The full quotation is: “All signification takes place within the orbit of the compulsion to repeat.”[/fn]
The emergence of a routine set of practices that would today be called “scholarly communication” is a fascinating, if understudied, aspect of intellectual history. Despite the obvious topical overlap, communication scholars haven’t much chronicled, let alone theorized, the development of these activities other than informally. (This is, I suspect, indicative of the degree to which the humanities generally, and the discipline of communication more specifically, have taken these activities for granted.) The responsibility has instead fallen mainly to historians of science and sociologists, who’ve nonetheless painted a fascinating picture of how scientific exchange began to coalesce in the early modern period. What intrigues me about this history is not so much the invention of modern science as the improvisations by which a burgeoning group of journal editors and contributors came to devise their communicative protocols.
Of the many works exploring the history of academic journal publishing, among the most compelling is Harriet Zuckerman and Robert K. Merton’s essay from 1971, “Patterns of Evaluation in Science: Institutionalization, Structure, and Functions of the Referee System.” The authors focus on the “social invention of the scientific journal,” or the diffuse ensemble of negotiations through which, starting in the late 17th century, scientific communications achieved a high degree of formalization (68). Their account begins with the fundamental notion of making public one’s research. Doing so was hardly self-evident to early modern scientists and their predecessors, let alone the acknowledged good that it is today. Quite the contrary, they tended to shroud their experiments and discoveries in secrecy (69). This was a compensatory move, intended to offset the prevailing lack of regard for the sanctity of another’s words and ideas. It was also something of a carry-over from the guild system, which enforced strict norms of trade secrecy as a matter of civic, regional, or national pride (“Guilds”).[fn]Guilds, Belfanti notes, often worked to impede innovation through their enforcement of secrecy and tradition.[/fn] An indeterminate amount of sharing did occur, of course, but it often transpired in isolation, and generally then in the form of private letters directed to one’s closest confidants. Zuckerman and Merton label this correspondence “fugitive” because of the highly dispersed scientific record that resulted from it (71). Indeed, with cutting-edge research tucked away in the odd corner of one’s desk drawer or perhaps stowed haphazardly in someone else’s personal library, it’s little wonder that many early academicians felt the need to be wandering scholars (c.f.: Printing Press 72, 579).
All that changed in due course, so much so that the figure of the wandering scholar was gradually displaced by that of another: the researcher “standing on the shoulders of giants,” in Isaac Newton’s words, or building deliberately on earlier and more readily accessible work (qtd. in Surowiecki 164).[fn]Surowiecki conjectures that Newton may have intended the phrase to be “a cruel joke” directed toward his diminutive rival, Robert Hooke.[/fn]
The shift from an ostensibly closed scientific paradigm to a considerably more open one occurred to some extent by design. Yet, as Zuckerman and Merton observe, more often than not it occurred extemporaneously. Peer-review, publication dates, even the formal academic paper—these and other routine features of scholarly communication began their days as “adaptive expedients” meant to address particular problems relating to the nascent system of journal publishing (69). Dates, for example, arose as a means for certifying “priority of discovery” and thus as an incentive for scientists to begin sharing their work publicly. The carefully-crafted research paper appears to have emerged even more organically, a result of peer and editorial pressure, both real and perceived: “Communications intended for publication would ordinarily be more carefully prepared than private scientific papers,” write Zuckerman and Merton, “and all the more so, presumably, in the knowledge that they would be scrutinized” by authorities within the growing scientific community (73).
All that to say, the norms of scholarly communication that we perform today were forged under historically specific circumstances. This of course begs the question of the extent to which those circumstances continue to apply today—a question that I cannot hope to answer here. Instead I’ll address it indirectly, by commenting briefly on how peer review has transformed over time.
Peer review serves the purpose of quality control, no doubt, yet it performs other, less obvious, functions as well. It is way of constantly enacting the principle: there is a finite amount of pages in any given volume of any given journal, and so only the most worthy research ought to have the privilege of filling them. In other words, peer review is a speech act whose outcome is rarity, or scarcity. The practice arose partly as a means of compensating for the material realities of the medium of print, which places determinate limits on how much content can find its way into the public realm (“Obsolescence” 721).[fn]Specifically, Fitzpatrick discusses “the scarce economics of print.”[/fn] But it hasn’t always been so—at least, not exactly. In the early days of scientific periodicals, it wasn’t uncommon for those in charge to come up short on papers deemed “publishable” when it came time to send an issue to press. They devised two main strategies to work around the problem: wait to publish until sufficient—and sufficiently suitable—matter presented itself; or fill the remaining space with work that hadn’t been properly vetted. The latter, Zuckerman and Merton note, would appear absent the endorsement of the scholarly society under whose imprimatur a given journal was published. Here a different standard prevailed: “sit penes authorem fides,” or “let the author take responsibility for it” (68-69, 73). On those occasions when the quantity of pages ceased to be an overarching concern, that is to say, early journal editors recognized that they need not maintain the performance scarcity as a matter of course.
We have significantly lost touch with this adaptability today. This is attributable in part to the exponential growth of scholarly research over the last 300 years or so, which has helped to make publishing in academic journals an increasingly competitive affair. Yet it’s also attributable to the compulsion to engage in scholarly communication as if the material constraints of print still straightforwardly applied (assuming they ever did). For example, the editors of the journal Shakespeare Quarterly recently conducted an “open peer review” experiment, in which contributors to a special issue on the Bard and new media were asked to post drafts of their papers online. Anyone visiting the site was welcome to comment on the work. The authors, for their part, were encouraged to revise their papers based on the wisdom of the “crowd” whose feedback, the editors hoped, would surpass that of the usual two or three editorial board members responsible for evaluating the work. Here’s the rub, though: beyond the fact that the editors still ultimately determined which essays would be published, the majority of those providing commentary were “very established, senior scholars” whose presence reportedly silenced some their junior colleagues (“Humanities Journal” A11). What, then, was actually different here, beyond the fact that even more than the normal number of superstars got to hold sway over the direction of their field? Indeed it seems to me that, if anything, this was a heightened performance of scarcity in spite of the preponderance of digital space.
Let me be clear: I’m not suggesting that we simply dispense with peer review, editorial decision-making, or the like. Instead, let’s try to think much more creatively—even expansively—than we currently do about how these and other fixtures of scholarly communication might work. Our early modern predecessors knew enough to recognize the difference between “there we go again” (a performance of expedient adaptation) and “this is how these things are done” (a performance of compulsory routine), and in this regard we’d do well to abide by their example (Social Construction 57, 59).
For my part, I’ve been tinkering with the norms of scholarly communication off and on since at least 2007. Early that year I’d committed to writing a paper for the National Communication Association’s annual convention in Chicago, explicating this enigmatic statement from Deleuze and Guattari: “We do not lack communication. On the contrary, we have too much of it. We lack creation. We lack resistance to the present” (Philosophy 108). I pecked away at the essay that fall and managed produce a presentable draft about a week before NCA. Yet, the piece still felt unfinished to me—as if there was more that I wanted to say, but couldn’t. I considered posting the draft to my blog, Differences & Repetitions (http://www.diffandrep.org), with the hope that my readers would provide some feedback.[fn]The site was hosted at http://striphas.blogspot.com until July 2010, whereupon I moved it to its current address. The original Differences and Repetitions remains online, albeit now as a legacy site[/fn] It was then that I accepted the fact that I’d about reached the limit of my knowledge, and so I decided to take the project in a different direction. I posted the essay to a wiki site and invited anyone interested enough work on it. Thus was born the Differences & Repetitions Wiki: A Site for Open Source Writing (http://www.diffandrep.org/wiki), or D&RW, and its first-ever fully editable project, “We Do Not Lack Communication.”[fn]The site was hosted at http://striphas.wikidot.com until July 2010, whereupon I moved it to its current address. The original Differences and Repetitions Wiki remains online, albeit now as a legacy site. The version of the essay that I presented at NCA in 2007 was exclusively my own.[/fn] I built the site, incidentally, using free open source software.
I cannot honestly say the experiment has been a resounding success—at least, not yet, since it remains ongoing. On the plus side, the project site has received hundreds of page views since it went live in late 2007. Fewer contributors than I’d hoped have added prose, citations, and comments, although I’m encouraged that after four years additions and changes continue to occur (albeit sporadically). Perhaps the most promising outcome is that the contributors have nudged the project in directions I never would have thought to take it, thereby encouraging me to reflect on my own disciplinary predilections. More unsettling has been the gradual absorption of my writing into that of others, which has challenged me to let go of my sense of propriety over the work. Indeed, at one point I had designs on publishing the piece in a conventional academic journal. Now, out of respect for my fellow contributors, I only feel comfortable publishing about it. The essay ceased belonging only to me once it became open source.
In any case, “We Do Not Lack Communication” has taught me a great deal about the types of questions we might ask about our performances of scholarly communication in general, and of academic journal publishing in particular. Could the concept of peer review be expanded to encompass distributed forms of collaboration? Should colleges and universities reward this type of participation, and if so, how? What if people other than out “peers” could easily and routinely add input to our work?[fn]On the organizational dynamics and drawbacks of “groupthink,” particularly in more or less homogeneous communities, see Wisdom 23-39 and 173-191. Surowiecki stresses “cognitive diversity” as an antidote to groupthink.[/fn] What exactly is a “peer,” anyway? How might editors and scholarly societies better curate academic research so as to encourage more broad-ranging engagement with it? Must published research only include monuments to the past, or can it include work of a more plastic nature?[fn]Among those leading the effort to address these and other questions about the future of scholarly communication are Kathleen Fitzpatrick and Gary Hall. See Fitzpatrick (2006; 2008; n.d.); and Hall (2008).[/fn]
I’m not proposing D&RW as a model for the future of scholarly communication as much as a thing to think with. There are many kinks that would need to be worked out before the site could even approach being a viable platform for regular scholarly exchange—and besides, a more “papercentric” type of journal publishing still has plenty of virtues (Digitize 20, 59-61). The point of performing scholarly communication differently shouldn’t be simply to replace a one-size-fits-all approach with yet another one, or to use new technology for the sake of using new technology. The point, rather, should be to expand our repertoire in ways that would enhance the quality of our research and our ability to share it—and by “share it” I mean not only among the constituencies we already know, but as important, among those we might not otherwise encounter.
Austin, J. L. How to Do Things With Words. 2nd ed. Ed. J. O. Rumson and Marina Sbisà. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1962.
Belfanti, Carlo Marco. “Guilds, Patents, and the Circulation of Technical Knowledge: Northern Italy During the Early Modern Age.” Technology and Culture 45.3 (2004): 569-589
Berger, Peter L., and Thomas Luckmann. The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise on the Sociology of Knowledge. New York: Anchor Books, 1966.
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York and London: Routledge, 1990.
-----. Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex.” New York and London: Routledge, 1993. 12-16.
Carey, James W. “A Cultural Approach to Communication.” Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society. New York and London: Routledge, 1989, 13-36.
Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Trans. Brian Massumi. Minneapolis and London: U of Minnesota P, 1987.
-----. What Is Philosophy? Trans. Huigh Tomlinson and Graham Burchell. New York and London: Columbia UP, 1994.
Eisenstein, Elizabeth. The Printing Press as an Agent of Change: Communications and Cultural Transformations in Early-Modern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1979.
Fitzpatrick, Kathleen. “On the Future of Academic Publishing, Peer Review, and Tenure Requirements.” The Valve. Jan. 6, 2006. Jan. 24, 2009 <http://www.thevalve.org/go/valve/article/on_the_future_of_academic_publishing_peer_review_and_tenure_requirements_or/>.
-----. “Obsolescence.” PMLA 123.3 (2008): 718-722.
-----. Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology, and the Future of the Academy. N.d. Aug. 31, 2010 <http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/mcpress/plannedobsolescence/>.
Hall, Gary. Digitize This Book! The Politics of New Media, or Why We Need Open Access Now. Minneapolis and London: U of Minnesota P, 2008.
Howard, Jennifer. “Leading Humanities Journal Tries ‘Open’ Peer Review, Likes It.” Chronicle of Higher Education. Aug. 13, 2010: A11, 19.
Pollock, Della. “Performing Writing.” The Ends of Performance. Ed. Peggy Phelan and Jill Lane. New York and London: New York UP, 1998, 73-103.
Striphas, Ted. “Banality, Book Publishing, and the Everyday Life of Cultural Studies.” International Journal of Cultural Studies 5.4 (2002): 438-460.
-----. “Acknowledged Goods: Cultural Studies and the Politics of Academic Journal Publishing.” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 7.1 (2010): 3-25.
Surowiecki, James. The Wisdom of Crowds: How the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies, and Nations. New York: Doubleday, 2004.
Zuckerman, Harriet, and Robert K. Merton. “Patterns of Evaluation in Science: Institutionalization, Structure, and Functions of the Referee System.” Minerva 9.1 (1971): 66-100.
This is a preprint of an article published in the January 2012 issue of Text and Performance Quarterly. © 2010-2011 Ted Striphas; Text & Performance Quarterly is available online at: http://www.informaworld.com.
Anonymous (not verified)Wed, 25/08/10
possibly useful resource
this is rather dated at this point (it's even pre-wiki), and the journal screwed up a lot of the links, but it's an early attempt to address some of these questions in a rather different context -- see "who writes" here: http://www.acjournal.org/holdings/vol6/iss3/
Ted StriphasWed, 25/08/10
Thx v much for sharing, anon...and so quickly! I'll definitely check out the link.
Ted StriphasThu, 26/08/10
Butler Epigraph?
One specific -- albeit pretty rudimentary -- question I have for my readers is this: does the Butler quotation work as an epigraph, since I don't actually get to the substance of it until the end of the 3rd paragraph?
Anonymous (not verified)Sun, 29/08/10
The link between peer review and this type of open source project is really interesting. I have tended to locate the possibilities of these new media projects in terms of open access for readers, but the potential of using it to democratize the peer review process is really interesting. Something must be done to fix the peer review process which is still shrouded in secrecy and no one seems to be happy with.
Also, at the end you make the case that d&r hasn't been wildly successful, and I don't think I agree. I don't think page views is how we should measure success with this type of thing. The very fact that this kind of thing exists is a success. It is pretty amazing to have the opportunity to comment on your work before submission.
Ps, I think the butler quote works fine where it is
Ted StriphasSun, 29/08/10
Thanks + Clarification
First, thanks for being so encouraging about D&Rw. I appreciate your reminding me that page views aren't necessarily the best indicator by which to gauge success or failure. I wonder if perhaps the number of participants would be a better measure, or maybe, say, the quality of the conversation that ensues. I've had some pretty amazing dialogues with folks around a couple of projects, especially the one on the Amazon Kindle. So, yes, maybe I've sold the site a bit short here.
The clarification: when you say the Butler quote works fine where it is, do you mean in the body of the essay only, or as as an epigraph as it appeared in an earlier version?
Thanks so much for taking the time to offer a response. I really appreciate it.
Anonymous (not verified)Tue, 31/08/10
great piece
I’ve been meaning to respond to your piece for about a week, but have been stuck doing the chores involved in moving house and getting back to school. I think this is a great piece, and puts into words a lot of things that I’ve been thinking about for a while with much greater clarity than I’ve been able to muster. That we are in the midst of some major shifts in the structures of scholarly communication is something that I wholly agree with.
There is one aspect of your piece that I’m wondering if you could develop a little for my own curiousity, namely how these transformations will fit into ongoing changes in the nature of scholarly labour. The C&C/CS essay talked about how the moment of signing the contract was a moment of alienation (or at least a material manifestation of this process.) This piece, which develops the constructive project of your earlier conclusions, doesn’t have as much to say on the subject. How do you see the transformations you advocate articulating with new (yet to emerge?) forms of labour surrounding the production of knowledge? I think this is an important adjunct to the changes in the practices of scholarly publishing you put forward.
Ted StriphasTue, 31/08/10
labor -- more anon
Great, great question, Mark, and thanks very much for posing it. I'm going to have to take some time to think it through, but rest assured a substantive reply is forthcoming. For now, the cynic in me would venture to say that the danger of mucking about with academic publishing is the usual one: more service, greater expectations for scholarly productivity, and less material reward. I'm not a total cynic, though, and so I'm still somewhat optimistic about the prospects for a different -- or an alternative -- system. One of the things that strikes me is that, if done right, it could be possible to construct some type of revenue-sharing arrangement wherein academic authors would be remunerated for their articles were they, say, licensed or reprinted. In most cases this wouldn't amount to much if anything, but then again that's better than the present situation: absolutely nothing.
Let me thank you, too, for the kind words about "Performing Scholarly Communication," and for connecting the dots so smartly from it to "Acknowledged Goods." I understand that the pieces are related, but because I'm so close to the work it's difficult for me to see exactly how they're related. I especially appreciate your having put a finger on what are genuinely serious concerns about the future of academic labor. I was, admittedly, on the verge of sidestepping them.
More anon...
the instruments of production
It occurred to me in thinking through your comment a bit further that it might be useful to reflect on how the ending of "Performing Scholarly Communication" changed.
In "Acknowledged Goods" I discuss how scholarly societies have been outsourcing their journal production operations to private -- typically for-profit -- corporations. Because I imagined "Performing Scholarly Communication" as something of sequel to "Acknowledged Goods" (albeit a truncated one), I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to develop that theme in reverse, as it were. I'd planned on ending the piece with a flourish, calling on scholars of all countries to seize ownership of the instruments of journal production.
Clearly that didn't happen, and it didn't for two reasons. First, I got so caught up in the history of scholarly journals that I simply ran out of space. I'd planned on using my discussion of D&RW as a lead-in to the "take ownership of the instruments of production" argument, but in the end it didn't -- couldn't -- materialize. I suppose, too, that the site's modest success wouldn't exactly inspire the kind of activism I'm looking for.
Second, I began to realize how naive that call would be Don't get me wrong -- I still believe strongly that we scholars need to own and operate the journals we publish in (I'm less sure about books). But actually doing that, and doing that well, takes an extraordinary amount of (wait for it...) work. I think about all of the time and effort I've put in to creating this still pretty rudimentary site. Now imagine multiplying that to accommodate a whole community of scholars anxious to publish their work -- never mind how their work will be vetted, etc. It reminds me of the old joke about the Marxist revolution, when the workers finally take ownership of the instruments of production: "now what?" That's the question, and it's not one to be entered into lightly.
I still believe strongly that we can do it, but it will take much more than an individual effort such as my own. And I suppose setting up a viable journals infrastructure will necessarily involve an uptick in our labor -- at least in the short- to medium-term, until the journals we create are established and (another battle) properly accredited.
All that to say, the labor issues run deep, deep, deep -- and wide, for that matter. And I suppose that's the next piece I'll have to write: "How to Build a Better Academic Journal." Maybe we could do it together.
Hi Ted, Thanks for the
Thanks for the responses. Hmm...
First: I completely agree with both your cynical and your optimisitc side. I think they are both right and necessary.
Second: Exhaustion is definitely a thing I've been thinking about a lot and extending labour (even if not necessarily making it more intensive) is always a concern. However, you are also right, something must be done. Lurking somewhere in this I think there are some very interesting questions about what tenure gives (and doesn't) and what one should take from the relative security of academic employment. I'm not sure I'm able to express what those questions would look like right now, but there's a danger in this transition towards being 'open' that you might get caught in seeming to be doing nothing when you're working harder than ever just because the products are taking traditional shape.
Third, why write about building the better journal. We should probably try to do it, after all time's getting tight.
Ted StriphasSat, 11/09/10
If You Build It...
I'm with you, Mark--it's high time to just sit down and make this happen. A formal statement of philosophy can follow later. And for whatever it's worth, I'm pretty sure that Drupal, the open source system I've used to build D&RW, could support the type of publication I think we and others are after. I particularly like its fine-grain permission structure, which allows for greater flexibility compared to, say, WordPress or MediaWiki.
My only hesitation is this: I know what I think would make for an interesting, next-phase academic publication, but I'm not sure if those who might use the system would agree. Before proceeding I'd probably want to do a fair amount of listening, or at least brainstorming/workshopping with a bunch of people about how best to proceed. I'd like to believe in the principle, "if you build it, they will come," but thus far in my admittedly small endeavors I haven't yet seen that happen to the degree I'd like it to. Also, I'm convinced that it's important to get potential users interested and invested at the build-stage, because that way they're on board with the project from the ground up.
true true true
I've not used Drupal. I looked into it, but then got overwhelmed with the set-up. Plus, I'd already gotten good at designing forms and writing some more sophisticated functions for mediawiki. But I agree that there is software out there that can be adapted pretty well without too much difficulty.
As for bringing folks in, I think you're right. The project needs to have at least some kind of community for it to succeed. I was talking about this during the summer with some folks at the John Fiske conference (where I presented a thing about JF's importance in building CS's publishing institutions.) I very much see the use of something like 'our-crowd sourcing' that was mentioned above. Also, working on the wiki-linked project from the media crisis project at NCA last year, I'm seeing that it's hard to get folks involved and that may have been the problem. People are comfortable with the old ways even if they don't like them. But was worth a try I guess.
(Speaking of which, I know you didn't want to put anything in about your stuff on turks, but maybe a short piece about where to next for collaborating scholarly communication...the sequel to this sequel. I think it's a good group of folks who would be giving feedback in a relatively short format - 3000-5000 words - and low intensity stage.)
That's what I think, but I'm not sure what's next.
Anonymous (not verified)Fri, 03/09/10
Excellent stuff!
A really fantastic piece, Ted, and I very much like the ways that you're responding and editing here. I'm curious whether the "final" journal version of the article will be able to carry with it any traces of this process. This is something I wrestled with in revising Planned Obsolescence -- really trying to think through how to represent a collaborative process within a text that ultimately attributes its authorship to me. I wound up quoting from and footnoting a lot of the conversations on the site, trying to be scrupulous about who led me to which idea, and how. And I also wound up focusing on the process and what we'd learned from it in the conclusion. There's an irony, of course, in the fact that the print version of the book won't be out for about a year yet, but it's an irony too painful for me to focus too closely on!
One issue I did want to raise: in your reference to the SQ open review experiment, which we conducted at MediaCommons on behalf of the journal, you point out that the predominance of the senior folks in the field may have squelched the voices of more junior scholars. I'm not entirely sure I agree, but would really like to hear more from those junior scholars to know if it's so. As it turns out, the authors of the articles are themselves predominantly junior, and they seem to have held their own well in the conversation. And the decision to target as commenters the established Shakespeareans -- the same scholars who would have been the reviewers in a more traditional process -- had in part to do with the journal needing to establish the legitimacy of the process in a fundamentally conservative environment.
This means of producing a process's bona fides will shift over time, I think, as we become more comfortable with material being reviewed in this way, but it'll nonetheless remain key for scholars (as well as reviewers and promotion and tenure committees) to know who it is that we're in conversation with, in order to know how to interpret the comments we receive. What that means will depend heavily on the field: in my own process, the readers whose comments I took most to heart were overwhelmingly junior, and many of them are in alt-ac positions (librarians, technologists, etc). A traditional process likely wouldn't have gotten feedback from them, but they were the group I most needed to hear from. So I think more and more that we need to think about "openness" a little differently, a little less binarily. A new peer-to-peer review process may not throw open the floodgates to comments from "just anyone," but instead do what Katherine Rowe has referred to as "'our crowd' sourcing," figuring out who the peers for a particular text are, and then facilitating a conversation amongst those peers within the borders of the text -- very much what you've done here.
-- Kathleen
Our Crowd Sourcing
First, let me thank you publicly for contributing your thoughts! It's such a delight to have someone as well-versed in these issues as you providing feedback and asking questions. I really appreciate your input.
The issue you raise is an important -- strategic -- one: timing. How do you convince people that it's a worthwhile endeavor to change scholarly peer review? It seems to me there are two types of responses to this question.
The first is conservative, as you say, or gradualist, in which those in charge of journals translate/adapt elements of the print-based peer review model into a new media context. This was basically the case with the SQ experiment -- which perhaps I came down too hard on, particularly as someone who wasn't a participant in the process. I suspect this approach was necessary in a field like Shakespeare studies. My understanding is that it's hierarchical, invested in tradition, and somewhat slow to change.
The second approach is additive, or generative, in which those in charge of journals experiment even more radically to push the bounds of scholarly publishing, come what may (more or less). And I suppose this is the approach I'm trying to develop on this site, especially in the "We Do Not Lack Communication" project. I want to see what would happen if we found other ways in which to imagine peer review, perhaps even in the form of decentralized collaboration.
I don't think either one of these approaches is necessarily better than the other. Indeed, the question for me is always strategic: which of these strategies, if either, do you need to engender a better a better environment for scholarly journal publishing? People sometimes fault me and my work for wanting it both ways, but I guess that's just the pragmatist in me: make the most of what works.
The point you raise about the crowd is a very interesting one, and I suspect it's going to provoke a blog post for me, if not a full-fledged writing project. I'm quite taken with the idea of identifying and cultivating an "our crowd" for scholarly journals, especially along the lines of the "peer-to-peer" review idea you've been developing in your work. The question I have here, though, is, how can we know in advance who "our crowd" is without excluding people whom we don't already know who might nonetheless have something compelling to say?
In the footnotes to "Performing Scholarly Communication" I cite James Surowiecki's The Wisdom of Crowds. There are lots of problems with the book (as is the case with all books), but there are some provocative insights there as well. Among them is his suggestion to cultivate "cognitive diversity." If I didn't have to abide by such a strict word count, I would have included a sustained engagement with this idea within the framework of scholarly communication. Too often, I find, we speak to audiences we already know, and who, if they do not know us personally, still have a good sense of the types of arguments that are acceptable for us to make within a given field. I wonder what would happen, though, if knowledgeable "outsiders" (forgive the term) played a more important role in what we do in our scholarship? For whatever it's worth, I will say that I've become (in my estimation) a more skilled and accessible writer as a result of (a) blogging regularly and (b) writing a book with some crossover potential to the trade. This is a direct result of my having to engage people other than "my crowd."
Whew -- so much great material here. Thanks again, Kathleen. You always make me think!
I forgot to say something about the dilemma you point to, namely, how to represent what goes on in online comment spaces like this one in a printed book or journal article. I wish I had something to add. I don't at the moment, unfortunately, since all I suspect I'll be able to do with "PSC" is acknowledge the fact that this dialogue exists -- as I have with previous essays I've published. So there's another blog post or essay: how to represent the livingness of a document like this in a print-based environment...
I very much liked the article
and thank you for being willing to share it. I have a couple of comments:
1) I agree with the way you are characterizing the cognitive issues with the collaborative writing process. I have now participated in a couple of different collaborative writing experiments with a group of 5-7 people, and letting one's own prose be manipulated by others seems to be one of the most difficult barriers to this type of collaborative work. It is probably a little more intense when one person does most of the initial writing. But it seems to be intuitive that collaborative work would yield a more balanced, comprehensive, and accurate product (insofar as it could be called "finished"). I suspect that someone has studied the relative accuracy to wikipedia compared to the standard dictionary; wikipedia has started to become a high-quality product (and has really promoted the importance of citation/hyperlinks to information). I think it is time that programs in the humanities (the sciences do this now) begin to train people to do collaborative work as part of their coursework, and then be able to defend the quality of that work. I have been pondering the idea of someone using graduate seminars as a place to develop collaboratively written journal pieces based upon the course topic. We already have the formats available to do this work conveniently (along with soliciting outside commentary on the group's progress). It would certainly be more fun for both students and faculty alike than writing alone under strict deadlines or reading a pile of papers hastily written and of varying quality.
However, the big problem is how to make that work not just count as "1/7" or 1/10" of an article for each co-author in the eyes of someone evaluating one's CV.
2) You ask, of course, the right questions at the end of the piece, but for me, I feel those have to be the starting places for changing the writing process, not where we end (probably on a fair expectation for you, I know). We have the technology to do a number of different experiments that would likely yield great work. Academics are writing quality stuff for public circulation in online journals and blogs now. We have to: a) be able to defend the quality of it to administrators (collaborative peer review -- especially when populated by a wide group of "star academics" -- would easily solve this problem); and b) we have to evaluate the quality of work based on something other than scarcity. The "quality" of journal is often based either on citation (metrics dependent heavily on the size of one's area of study, the language of publication, and differences in disciplinary citation practice) or rejection rates. One's CV, at least with regard to publication, is often about measuring the degree to which someone has manged to convince editors to use their "scarce print resources" on one's work. It is the personal accumulation of that scarce space that is a significant determining factor in job security. Even online journals, which have no scarcity issue, are creating artificial one's now to increase their prestige. There is an assumption: creating finite resources promotes competition and offers a way to discriminate in the quality of scholarship. Figuring out how another system to evaluate work -- and selling that system to a wide range of administrators -- is probably the biggest barrier.
I think most academics write because they like doing it; scarcity of publication resources (at least that are respected) is a barrier to being able to enjoy your work. But there are concerns that using alternative outlets or doing interesting writing experiments will not be rewarded, and that concern, especially for the younger generation of scholars that ought to be most adept at using new writing tools, can be enough to suppress good creative expression. Especially if the energy and commitment that one's puts into those experiments trade off with other work that will be more highly rewarded.
Wow! Thank you, anon, for taking the time to write in and, more importantly, for sharing such thoughtful provocations.
I wish I had more to offer in terms of your first point, about collaboration, but I don't see too many work-arounds for how to divide up scholarly credit. Two imperfect ideas come to mind, though. One of the advantages of online wiki-based systems is their ability to track layers of changes by different users. I don't know how one could/would create metrics using that type of feature, but at least it does create a "paper" trail (I suppose we need a new word now) by which one might assess at least the writing part of the collaborative process. There are also site emerging where academics can share research, working papers, etc., so perhaps they hold some way to judge or assess some of what goes on at the back end of collaboration. But still, these systems aren't quite where we need them to be yet.
The second point you raise is also vexing, although it seems to me there are better models for how to address some of the concerns you raise there. Indeed, gathering star academics together for collaborative peer review probably would solve the problem of how to justify the worth of online publications to administrators (especially those who oversee humanities departments). By the same token, I'm not sure the star system best suits the broader purpose behind expanded forms of peer review, which, as I understand it, is to grow the diversity of evaluative voices beyond the seniormost people in a given field -- people who already tend to hold disproportionate sway over the direction of their fields. I'd like to say the answer is citations, comments, and trackbacks as evaluative measures, but then I worry about the ways in which people are able to game those systems, especially online (which isn't a reason to throw them out altogether). I wonder if it would be possible to devise code capable of flagging illegitimate citations, much along the lines of how Google ferrets out dummy websites designed to up a given site's search ranking.
The world that I'm imagining -- and it sounds like you are, too -- would be a world of abundant scholarship, albeit I suppose of varying quality. And that to me raises the stakes on editorship or, as I call it above, "curation." There would need to be both centralized and decentralized authorities mutually determinnig what work to feature, when, and for how long. Abundant scholarship also raises the stakes on search, for without a robust enough search engine, good work would likely get lost amid the clutter.
Editable Wiki Projects
"We Do Not Lack Communication" Worksite
Working Papers in Cultural Studies Project
The Visible College
Acknowledged Goods: Cultural Studies and the Politics of Academic Journal Publishing
Kindle: The Labor of Reading in an Age of Ubiquitous Bookselling
Designed by Antsin.com
Content licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license.
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Local farmers will find it difficult to embrace hydroponic farming
An agriculturist, Mr. Ismail Olawale, has said local farmers in Nigeria may not be ready to practice the hydroponic farming system despite its multi-faceted benefits.
Mr. Olawale, a fellow at the Nigerian Agriculture and Extension Liaison Service (NAERLS) Zaria, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He said hydroponic farming was a very sensitive farming system that required much attention, adding that it was not just something any farmer could dabble into because of the processes involved in its practice.
NAN reports that hydroponic farming is a technological method that is gradually gaining ground across the world, especially in countries without adequate land.
It involves the growing of plants without soil by using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent.
Olawale revealed that the cumbersome and attention-demanding nature of hydroponic farming system would not make it easy for local farmers to adopt. “
Hydroponic farming involves the system of farming that does not necessarily need soil to thrive, but a system of water tubes. “
It is mostly practiced in areas where there is land problem or a lot of soil infertility or rocky areas where you cannot really do land cultivation farming. “
As an expert in the field, I will say the average local farmer in Nigeria is not ready for hydroponic farming because of its cumbersome nature. “
Nigerian farmers are not ready to practice hydroponic farming at a commercial level because of the process involved in the system. “
Hydroponic farming is a great innovation in farming, but in Nigeria, I do not see it as an alternative for conventional farming yet. It cannot serve as an alternative for food production and food security in Nigeria at the stage we are in now,” the agriculturist said.
Original Post at https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/local-farmers-will-find-it-difficult-to-embrace-hydroponic-farming.html
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Home \ Commodities & Products \ Fruits \ Mangos
Aronia Berries
Revised December, 2018.
Mango is native to eastern India and southern Asia, and there are two types: the Indian Mango and the Philippine Mango. Both are from the same species (Mangifera indica), but both have different characteristics due to their geographical distance, and they each have multiple cultivars.
Mango was introduced to the United States in the early 1900s by David Fairchild, who was also the manager and creator of the Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Mango is said to have a combination of flavors similar to an apricot, peach, and pineapple. However, if you’ve ever tried a fresh ripe mango, it’s quite difficult to compare its flavor to any other fruit. It has a tropical flavor of brilliant sweetness. Unripe mangoes will have a sour taste. The skin of the mango is inedible. The edible flesh of ripe mango can be smooth and creamy or slightly firm. Depending on the cultivar, the flesh can have many fibers or almost none. The flesh surrounds a large, flat inedible seed.
The marketing season for mango grown in the United States is rather long. Depending on the cultivar, mangoes can be ready for harvest as early as May or as late as October with the peak season being July.
The demand for tropical fruits (including mango) has been increasing for the past few decades. This is due to multiple reasons, such as increased immigration from Asian and Latin American countries, as well as American consumers becoming more adventurous and health conscious with their diet .
Fresh mango is commonly sold local through farm stands, farmers’ markets, and specialty grocery stores. Some customers might be reluctant to purchase a fruit they’re not familiar with, thus having free literature describing the fruit and its uses can be helpful. Mango is perfect as is; however, adding fresh mango to oatmeal, salads, and smoothies is a great way to incorporate the fruit.
Mango can also be dried, frozen, or processed to add value. Green unripe or semi-ripe mangoes have been processed into chutneys, pickles, and curries. Ripe mangoes are often processed into products such as candies, canned slices, fruit bars, juice and other beverages, salsas, sorbets, and more. Mango leaves are also often dried and used to make tea.
According to 2016 data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS), the average retail price for fresh mango was $1.32 per pound, and it was considerably higher for dried mango at $10.16 per pound..
Commercial production of mango in the United States is limited. This is largely due to climate requirements (see Management Section).
The areas in the United States that can successfully grow mangoes are California, Hawaii, Florida, and Puerto Rico,
Florida is the largest producer of mangoes in the United States. A profile on mango states that Florida grows about 200,000 mango trees on approximately 2,000 acres, producing an estimated 100,000 bushels (5.5 million pounds) valued at $2.1 million.
The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization lists mango, mangosteen, and guava together, reporting that of those fruits, India is the largest producer, followed by China, Thailand, Indonesia, and Mexico.
Exports/Imports/United States Consumption
The United States is the world's biggest importer of mangoes, according to a CNN article.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service reports the exports imports and per capita consumption of many commodities. However, since mango is a minor fruit crop grown in the United States, only import data is currently available.
The United States imports fresh, dried, frozen, prepared or preserved mango as well as mango juice. The data below is representative of the year 2015.
The United States imported 1 billion pounds of fresh mango valued at $52 million, with Mexico as the main supplying country.
Just over 29 million pounds of dried mango were imported valued at $124 million, with the Philippines, Mexico, and Thailand as the primary suppliers.
More than 90.7 million pounds of frozen mango were imported valued at $74.7 million, with Mexico and Peru as the primary producers
The United States also imported 206.6 million pounds of prepared or preserved mango valued at $206.4 million. The supplying countries for prepared or preserved mango were not reported.
More than 3 million gallons of mango juice were imported valued at $11.8 million. The supplying countries for mango juice were not reported.
Mango is a tropical fruit, and trees can be severely damaged or killed by temperatures lower than 30 degrees Fahrenheit. However, some cultivars are more frost tolerant than others.
Dry weather before and during the bloom period is best for fruit production. Thus areas such as Southern California could be very successful at growing the fruit.
Mangoes are considered to be alternate bearing (AB), meaning the plant will produce more fruit every other year. AB is internally regulated by the plant, but can be triggered by external factors such as poor management. The most successful practice to control AB is crop load management achieved by fruit thinning and pruning.
Unfortunately, there are currently no United States enterprise budgets available online for mango.
Alternate Bearing in Fruit Crops, Pennsylvania State University – Extension, 2011.
Cavallo, C. (2016). A tour of LA’s best farmers markets, Saveur.
Crane, J.H, Balerdi, C.F., and Maguire, I. (2003). Mango growing in the Florida home landscape, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
Cullum, E. (2016). Pick this up, not that: Trader Joe’s mango-flavored snacks, PopSugar.
Draper, R. (2014). Mango mania! An authentic Florida road trip, Authentic Florida Media.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Statistics Division (FAOSTAT), 2016. Click Item as mangos, mangosteens, guavas, Area as the United States of America, and From Year 2013 To Year 2013.
Fruit and Tree Nut Data - Exports/Imports, USDA Economic Research Service (ERS), 2016.
Heen, N. (n.d.). Mango on my mind, Hawaii.com.
Karp, D. (2007). Mango madness, Sunset.
Mango Availability, National Mango Board, 2016.
Mango and Guava Processing Technologies, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department, n.d.
Mango Varieties, National Mango Board, 2016.
Mission and History, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (FTBG), 2016.
Thompson, T. (2013). SoCal Mangoes, Fruit Gardener Magazine.
Zervaki, T. (2013). Where can you find the ‘perfect mango’?, Cable News Network (CNN)
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People, power, or propaganda? Unraveling the Egyptian opposition
Uncorroborated turnout estimates of the June 30 protests have used to justify the actions of the military.
by Max Blumenthal
"The opposition may have made an impressive showing on June 30 and in the days that followed, but the stunning crowd counts it spread across the world do not seem to hold up against critical scrutiny," writes Max Blumenthal [AFP]
The debate over the legitimacy of Egypt's new, military-installed government has become a popularity battle, with some of the most vocal supporters of the coup claiming that the June 30 protests against President Mohammed Morsi represented the largest demonstrations in human history, a real-life Cecil B. DeMille production, with crowd sizes ranging anywhere between 14 to 33 million people - over one-third of the entire population of Egypt.
Substituting subjective head counts for vote totals, Morsi's opponents have also pointed to the 22 million signatures supposedly gathered by the newfangled Tamarod youth movement. To them, the tens of millions in the streets were a clear sign that "the people" had sided unequivocally with the army and its political allies.
The importance of head counts to the military-installed government's international legitimacy was on display at a July 11 press conference at the US State Department. Pressed by Matt Lee of the Associated Press on whether the Obama administration considered Morsi's ouster a coup, and if it would respond by canceling aid including a planned shipment of four F-16's to Egypt, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki countered by citing Tamarod's figures, declaring that the US could not reverse the will of the "22 million people who spoke out and had their voices heard."
Days later, the Pentagon announced that the F-16 sale would proceed as planned. As far as the US was concerned, Egypt had not just witnessed a military coup. Instead, "the people" - or at least 22 million of them - had spoken.
With Egypt's new army-backed regime relying on jaw dropping, record-shattering crowd estimates and petition drive figures to assert its democratic legitimacy, it is worth investigating the source of the numbers, and asking whether they add up at all.
Baseless claims born in an echo chamber
Among the first major Egyptian public figures to marvel at the historic size of the June 30 demonstrations was the billionaire tycoon Naguib Sawiris. On June 30, Sawiris informed his nearly one million Twitter followers that the BBC had just reported, "The number of people protesting today is the largest number in a political event in the history of mankind." Sawiris exhorted the protesters: "Keep impressing…Egypt."
Sawiris was not exactly a disinterested party. He had boasted of his support for Tamarod, lavishing the group with funding and providing them with office space. He also happened to be a stalwart of the old regime who had thrown his full weight behind the secular opposition to Morsi.
Two days after Sawiris' remarkable statement, BBC Arabic's lead anchor, Nour-Eddine Zorgui, responded to a query about it on Twitter by stating, "seen nothing to this effect, beware, only report on this from Egypt itself." Sawiris seemed to have fabricated the riveting BBC dispatch from whole cloth.
Egypt cabinet sworn in after violence
On June 30, one of the most recognisable faces of Egypt's revolutionary socialist youth movement, Gigi Ibrahim, echoed the remarkable claim, declaring on Twitter, "I think this might be the largest protest in terms of numbers in history and definitely in Egypt ever!" Over 100 Twitter users retweeted Ibrahim, while a BBC dispatch reporting that only "tens of thousands of people [had] massed in Tahrir Square" flew below the radar.
Some Egyptian opponents to Morsi appear to have fabricated Western media reports to validate the crowd estimates. Jihan Mansour, a presenter for Dream TV, a private Egyptian network owned by the longtime Mubarak business associate Ahmad Bahgat, announced, "CNN says 33 million people were in the streets today. BBC says the biggest gathering in history."
There is no record of CNN or BBC reporting any such figure. But that did not stop a former Egyptian army general, Sameh Seif Elyazal, from declaring during a live CNN broadcast on July 3, just as the military seized power from Morsi, "This is not a military coup at all. It is the will of the Egyptians who are supported by the army. We haven't seen in the last -- even in modern history, any country in the world driving 33 million people in the street for four days asking the president for an early presidential election." CNN hosts Jake Tapper and Christian Amanpour did not question Elyazal's claim, or demand supporting evidence.
Three days later, Quartet's Middle East special envoy Tony Blair hyped a drastically different, but equally curious, crowd estimate. In an editorial for the Observer (reprinted by the Guardian), Blair stated, "Seventeen million people on the street is not the same as an election. But it is an awesome manifestation of people power." The former UK Prime Minister concluded that if a protest of a proportionate size occurred in his country, "the government wouldn't survive either."
From what source did the claim of 17 million demonstrators originate? Apparently, it was a single anonymous military official. One of the first Egyptian outlets to cite the number was the newspaper Shorouk, which headlined its June 30 report, "Military source: The number of demonstrators is 17 million and increasing."
Strangely, a day before the military told Shorouk that 17 million demonstrators were in the streets against Morsi, another unidentified military source claimed to Reuters that 14 million were protesting. The news service noted that the figure was "implausible," but amidst the excitement and chaos, examples of critical detachment like this were rare.
Meanwhile, the Tamarod youth movement triumphantly announced that it had collected a whopping 22 million signatures on its petition calling for early elections and Morsi's withdrawal. European and US outlets repeated the claim without any critical scrutiny, noting that the number of signatures far exceeded the votes Morsi received when he was elected president.
Like the massive crowd estimates, Tamarod's signature counts were impossible to independently verify. Increasingly it appeared that the numbers were products of a clever public relations campaign, with the Egyptian army and its political supporters relying on the international press and Western diplomats to amplify their Mighty Wurlitzer.
'Impossible' crowd estimates collapse under scrutiny
Was there any credible source for the widely cited figure of 33 million demonstrators? It has been impossible to locate one, either in English or Arabic media. As for the estimations of 17 and 14 million anti-Morsi protesters, there does not appear to be a valid source beyond the two anonymous military officials – not exactly dispassionate observers.
On July 15, the BBC reported that it was unable to find any legitimate sources for the opposition's claims of either 14, 17, or 33 million protesters, affirming the conclusions of BBC Middle East correspondent Wyre Davies, who concluded that mobilising such a massive number of protesters was "impossible."
Supporters of deposed president Mohammed Morsi hold a picture of him during a rally in Cairo's Ramsis square under the Six of October bridge on July 15, 2013. [AFP]
Through simple Algebra, the Egyptian blogger Shereef Ismail has also poked gaping holes in the opposition's numbers. Estimating that each protester occupied a space of approximately .45 square metres, Ismail calculated that the absolute maximum number of anti-Morsi demonstrators who could fit in the total area of major public spaces in Egyptian cities was at most 2.8 million.
There are other factors that cast doubt on the June 30 crowd estimates, like the basic logistics of cramming between 20 and 40 percent of Egypt's population into already densely populated urban spaces without a staggering number of deaths and injuries ensuing, especially in the oppressive summer heat. Yet many among the army-installed government's supporters are holding fast to their claims, insisting that "the people" led the way against the Muslim Brotherhood's anti-democratic "ballotocracy."
The opposition may have made an impressive showing on June 30 and in the days that followed, but the stunning crowd counts it spread across the world do not seem to hold up against critical scrutiny. And as the mirage of a 30-million-person march evaporates, an unsavory military coup stands exposed.
Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author of Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party (Nation Books, 2009). His next book, Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, will be published by Nation Books in October 2013.
You can follow Max Blumenthal on Twitter @MaxBlumenthal
Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author of Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party (Nation Books, 2009). His next book, Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, will be published by Nation Books in October 2013. @MaxBlumenthal
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Calls for coup, firing squads: Greek far right angry at name deal
Far-right parties, groups and newspapers have responded to North Macedonia name deal with outrage.
by Patrick Strickland
Greeks rally against a name deal between Athens and Skopje [Giannis Papanikos/AP Photo]
Athens, Greece - Anger is mounting in Greece over an historic agreement between Athens and Skopje, with far-right calls for military rule and firing squads to execute politicians.
Nikos Voutsis, a member of the ruling Syriza party and president of the Greek parliament, on Friday called for an emergency meeting to temporarily ban the neo-fascist Golden Dawn party from parliament.
The party was subsequently barred from discussions on a no-confidence measure moving forward.
"I call on the country's military leadership to respect its oath: to arrest Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras [Defence Minister] Panos Kammenos and President Prokopis Pavlopoulos in order to prevent this treason," Golden Dawn parliamentarian Constantinos Barbarousis said.
Other members of the party who attended the session cheered and clapped as Barbarousis made the remarks.
The comments were made during a debate over the no-confidence motion filed by the centre-right New Democracy party on Thursday in the wake of the government announcing a name deal between Greece and its northern neighbour.
Voutsis ordered that Golden Dawn be temporarily banned from parliament owing to its lawmaker's "open call for a coup".
Later on Friday, Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos expelled Barbarousis from the party's parliamentary group.
Giorgos Kiritsis, a Syriza parliamentarian, said the Barbarousis' comments create a "dangerous situation".
"The extremists of Golden Dawn are threatening democracy and threatening their political adversaries, saying that they want their heads," Kiritsis told Al Jazeera, explaining that Barbarousis's remarks are part of a broader wave of far-right "incitement to violence".
Announced earlier this week, the agreement is expected to be signed in the coming days.
On June 12, Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced that the agreement was reached and would see the country's name changed to the Republic of North Macedonia.
In Greece, where a northern region is called 'Macedonia', there has been strong opposition to allowing the country's northern neighbour to use any version of the name.
Far-right parties, groups and newspapers have responded to the deal with anger, some of them calling for violence and others calling for the government to be removed.
Protesters demonstrate against the agreement reached by Greece and Macedonia to resolve a name dispute [Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters]
The two countries have been at loggerheads over the name for decades, and it has been a barrier to joining NATO and the European Union for the Republic of Macedonia since it became independent in 1991.
Although the country was admitted into the United Nations as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), upwards of 140 countries refer to it as the Republic of Macedonia.
In Skopje, there has also been a heavy backlash against the agreement, with the president declaring his refusal to sign off on the deal.
"There is a question of the justice system and what they do when they hear calls for a coup," Kiritsis added. "This is open call for military intervention.
Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis subsequently ordered an investigation into the legislator's comments, and Defence Minister Panos Kammenos called for criminal charges to be filed.
A supreme court prosecutor also ordered a probe into whether the comments constituted treason.
'Fatal blow'
Barbarousis's comments fall in a broader wave of calls for the government, which is currently ruled by a coalition between the left-wing Syriza party and right-wing junior coalition partner ANEL, to be punished.
At the time of publication, Golden Dawn's press office had not replied to Al Jazeera's request for comment.
In a statement published on its website, the far-right party accused Voutsis of a "Stalinist measure" by striving to remove Golden Dawn from parliament.
That statement also said the government "has no right to make anti-Hellenic decisions" like the name deal.
On Wednesday, Ilias Zagoreos, the head of Athens's First-Instance Prosecutor's office, ordered the investigation into potential incitement to commit a crime and other infractions by a right-wing tabloid.
The move came after the tabloid, Makeleio, published an edition with a front-page image depicting the prime minister, president and foreign minister being executed by a firing squad for supposedly "selling out" Greece's exclusive right to the name 'Macedonia'.
"At eight metres, like Beloyiannis," Makeleio's cover story was titled, referring to Nikos Beloyannis, a Greek communist rebel leader who was executed in 1952.
Greek PM Alexis Tsipras addresses the parliament ahead of a debate over the name deal [Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters]
"The puppets of the collaborators handed over our Macedonia to the Albanian-Slavs with the false name 'North Macedonia'," the subheading read.
"Pavlopoulos - Tsipras - Kotzias: firing squad with a shot in the head for the fatal blow."
On Thursday, the tabloid's publisher, Stefanos Chios, was arrested outside his offices in the Kallithea area of Athens in relation to the investigation, the Greek daily Ekathimerini reported.
The name deal has also prompted a backlash from some centrist and left-wing parties, including the Greek Communist Party (KKE).
Citing US, EU and NATO support for the agreement, the KKE said in a statement that it "cannot provide a solution for the benefit of the Greek people, the people of the neighbouring country and all the peoples of the region".
On Saturday, a rally against the deal is slated to take place in the northern coastal city of Thessaloniki.
Petros Constantinou, national director of the Athens-based anti-fascist group Keerfa, warned that far-right groups have capitalised on anger over the name deal to gain currency among everyday Greeks.
"The nationalist campaign for the name of 'Macedonia' is a chance for the far-right and the neo-Nazis in Golden Dawn to attempt to gain legitimacy in the streets," he told Al Jazeera.
"They are organising, by wearing the mask of patriotism, to appeal to a national audience."
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Sarah Wyland
Teach Through Educational Travel: Trinity College Dublin
Trinity College Dublin, founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth, is the oldest university in Ireland. Many famous writers graduated from Trinity College, including Jonathan Swift (Gulliver’s Travels), playwright Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest), playwright Oliver Goldsmith (She Stoops to Conquer), playwright Samuel Becket (Nobel Prize for Literature), and Eion Colfer (Artemis Fowl series, book 6 of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy). Where might all these literary greats have studied? The Library, of course!
The Trinity College Library is the largest library in Ireland, and holds many extraordinary treasures (and over 4 million books!). It is a copyright library, which means it holds the legal deposit rights (and can claim a copy) for everything published in Ireland (it also holds such rights for the UK). The Trinity College Library holds the famous, ancient, beautiful Book of Kells, as well as the Book of Durrow and the Book of Armagh. The most recognizable aspect of the Library is the Long Room (pictured here). The Long Room (71 yards long!) was built between 1712-1732, and holds the library’s oldest books. As time went on, there were too many books, so in 1860 the roof was raised and an upper gallery was built to house them.
So, the Book of Kells. It’s an ancient book, beautifully illustrated, that has captured the attention of the world. The unfinished manuscript contains, in Latin, the four Gospels of the New Testament. While the exact creation dates are unknown, it is thought to have been started in the 560s in a monastery on Iona, a Scottish island. After a Viking raid, some of the monks (and their holy relics, including the Book) found refuge in the monastery at Kells, Ireland, and continued working on it there. The book is illuminated (illustrated) in a variety of colors – the art and workmanship is exquisite. Have you seen the movie The Secret of Kells? It’s a fun glimpse into what may have been the story behind the Book of Kells. Head to the Book of Kells online or on your ipad, and look through it. What draws your eye? Did you notice that some of the art shows through the pages? Look at pages 256 and 257. What do you think time has done, to the calf vellum that it was created on?
The Long Room is an extraordinary library, housing so many books, in such a beautiful setting – dark wooden shelves, ladders, windows streaming in light. Another famous feature of the Long Room is the collection of 48 marble busts of famous philosophers and writers. When you first walk into the Long Room, it might seem familiar – it was the inspiration for the Jedi Library in Star Wars Episode II, and also for the library in Harry Potter. Read this traveler’s account of her time in the Trinity College Library. Do you love libraries? Discuss why libraries have been important, though the ages – and why it is important for us to remember and celebrate the printed word, in this digital age.
Trinity College Library has many exhibitions going on, from the Book of Kells to ever-changing exhibits. Take a look at the blog for Trinity College Library, and peruse through some of the latest exhibits, including children’s books, the anatomy of the brain, birds, and the moon. If you were in charge of exhibits at Trinity College Library, how would you choose from the enormous amount of books, to share with visitors? How would you decide what is important? And how would you balance the tasks of spreading knowledge and book conservation? Obviously, some of those books are so old that handling might destroy them.
Article written by Sarah Wyland
Sarah never gets in trouble for being on Facebook and Instagram at work, because its her job. As social media manager, she gets to tell the stories of travelers, teachers, and interesting places. Other titles she enjoys include dog mom to Knox, barre instructor, Crossfit athlete, avid reader, and world traveler.
Tags: Ireland
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Emigrate vs. Immigrate: What Are the Differences Between Immigration and Emigration?
Home » Emigrate vs. Immigrate: What Are the Differences Between Immigration and Emigration?
“Immigrate” and “emigrate” are two words that have similar meanings and can be easily confused. The differences between the two are subtle but important, especially if you want to keep your writing from looking sloppy. So, in this post we’ll go over the differences between the two terms, how to use them, and show you a trick to remember their differences.
When To Use Migrate
Before we get into the difference between “immigrate” and “emigrate,” we should look at the word “migrate.” To migrate is to move from one country or region and settle in another. Migrate is an umbrella term under which both “immigrate” and “emigrate” fall. When it applies to people, it generally means a permanent move but can also mean a temporary relocation. For example,
Many Easterners migrated west during the California Gold Rush (permanent move).
Many workers migrate north for cropping season (temporary relocation).
When “migrate” applies to animals such as birds, it generally means a seasonal or temporary change in habitat. For example,
Robins migrate south every winter.
When To Use Immigrate
To immigrate is to enter and settle in a foreign country, leaving a past home. “Immigrate” implies a permanent move and applies only to people. For example,
My grandparents immigrated to the United States in the 1920s.
There is one main feature that distinguishes “immigrate” from “migrate.” “Immigrate” means an individual or group of people have moved into a new, foreign country. “Migrate” does not require moving into foreign land; it just implies moving. “Immigrate” usually refers to the crossing of a political boundary (moving into a new country) where “migrate” can just be moving to a new region. For instance,
Many Michiganders migrate south for the winter.
In this example, Michiganders aren’t moving to a foreign land, but they are migrating south for the winter.
When To Use Emigrate
To emigrate is to leave one country or region to settle in another. “Emigrate” implies a permanent move and only applies to people. For example,
My grandparents emigrated from Norway.
The difference between “immigrate” and “emigrate” is that “immigrating” is the act of entering a foreign country to live while “emigrating” is the act of leaving a country to live in another. Consider the differences in our above examples,
My grandparents immigrated to the United States.
In this example, my grandparents are immigrants here in the United States, but back in Norway, they are emigrants. The graphic below does a good job illustrating the difference.
Trick to Remember the Difference
There is a good trick to remember the differences between “immigrate” and “emigrate.” The prefix e- (or ex-) usually means “out of” or “from.” The prefix im- (or in-) often means “in” or “into.”
Therefore, emigrate means “to move out of” and immigrate means “to move into.”
Or to put it even more simply,
You immigrate “into” places.
You emigrate “from” places.
To summarize,
Migration is an umbrella term that covers both “immigrate” and “emigrate.”
“Immigrate” is to enter a foreign country to live.
“Emigrate” is to leave a country in order to live in another.
1 When To Use Migrate
2 When To Use Immigrate
3 When To Use Emigrate
4 Trick to Remember the Difference
Who vs. Whom: How to Use Who and Whom
Alumnus, Alumni, Alumna, and Alumnae: What’s the Difference?
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Coutinho leaving Liverpool for Barcelona in $192M deal
By Associated Press January 6, 2018 3:38 pm
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Philippe Coutinho is joining Barcelona after Liverpool agreed Saturday to sell the Brazilian in a deal that makes him one of the most expensive players in soccer history.
Barcelona did not reveal the cost of the deal for the 25-year-old playmaker but a person familiar with the details told The Associated Press that the transfer is worth 160 million euros ($192 million).
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly about the deal, which would be a club record for Barcelona.
Coutinho’s transfer cost is only surpassed by Paris Saint-Germain’s acquisition of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe last summer. Barcelona has now reinvested the 222 million euro windfall it received from PSG following Neymar’s world-record transfer to the French club in August.
Barcelona said Coutinho will sign a contract for the rest of the ongoing season and five more seasons. He still needs to finalize personal terms and pass a medical examination.
Liverpool rejected three bids from Barcelona for Coutinho in August and hoped to convince him to stay beyond this season. He even captained the side in recent games.
The Spanish league leaders broke their own transfer record to sign France forward Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund in August for a fee of 105 million euros that could rise to 147 million euros. Barcelona hoped to sign Coutinho at the same time but it has taken until the January transfer window to convince Liverpool to sell one of its most creative players.
Barcelona said in September that it rejected a last-minute offer by Liverpool to sell Coutinho for 200 million euros (then $237 million) because it would have been an “irresponsible” financial risk for the club. Five months on, Barcelona has managed to negotiate a cheaper deal.
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said the club tried to keep its prized player, but that Coutinho had wanted to leave for the Catalan club since July.
“He is 100 percent certain his future — and that of his family — belongs at Barcelona,” Klopp said.
Coutinho will arrive bearing high expectations to meet the lofty standards of Barcelona’s long line of skilled midfielders.
Barcelona has been searching for a player with the vision and passing talent of Xavi Hernandez since the Spain great left the club after 17 seasons to play in Qatar 2 1/2 years ago.
Coutinho will rejuvenate a midfield core led by the 33-year-old Andres Iniesta and which includes Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic and Paulinho, who are all 29.
On announcing his signing, Barcelona hailed Coutinho as “a young player with potential still to be tapped.”
Coutinho won’t be able to play for Barcelona in the Champions League since he has already featured in the competition with Liverpool in the group stage. But he will be available for Barcelona’s bid to reclaim the Spanish league title from Real Madrid and defend its Copa del Rey crown.
Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Coutinho made the leap from Brazilian club Vasco de Gama to Inter Milan in 2010. He got a taste of the Spanish league in a six-month loan deal at Espanyol in 2012 before he then made the move to Liverpool in January 2013, where he became one of the Premier League’s most dynamic playmakers.
He scored 41 goals in 152 Premier League appearances for Liverpool, including seven in 14 matches this season.
Signed by Inter Milan at age 16 from Vasco da Gama, Coutinho made his debut for the Italian side two years later with some pundits comparing him to Neymar.
Instead of defending its Champions League title with a new star, Inter was frustrated, with the Brazilian scoring only once the whole season.
Coutinho decided to take advice from his friend, Neymar, and move to Spain instead of returning to Brazil. At Espanyol, he scored five goals in 16 games in his first season and caught the attention of Liverpool.
Coutinho’s transfer is technically the second most expensive of all time as Mbappe has only moved on loan from Monaco to PSG. But there is an option to buy the forward on a permanent deal for 180 million euros at the end of the season in a deal structured to ease the financial burden on the French club this year.
Barcelona plays Levante in La Liga on Sunday, and then hosts Celta Vigo in the Copa del Rey on Thursday. The club has not said when it expects Coutinho to get his first minutes playing alongside Lionel Messi.
Douglas reported from Manchester, England.
Andres Iniesta AP Online - Sports AP Online Soccer News Athlete contracts Barcelona Brazil Europe FC Barcelona Inter Milan Ivan Rakitic Juergen Klopp Kylian Mbappe Lottin La Liga Latin America and Caribbean Ligue 1 Lionel Messi Liverpool FC Men's soccer Men's sports Neymar Ousmane Dembele Paris Saint-Germain FC Philippe Coutinho Premier League Professional soccer RCD Espanyol s Sergio Busquets Serie A Soccer South America Spain Sports Sports business Sports transactions Uncategorized Western Europe Xavi Hernandez
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Highly Placed Media Racists By Steve Rendall
July 3, 2014 August 23, 2018
3 July 2014 — FAIR Blog
Nicholas Wade was a leading New York Times science writer for three decades. He left the paper weeks after the May publication of his book, A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History, a book many reviewers say is a full-throated defense of “scientific racism.” Wade’s views raise questions about his tenure at the Times, and about corporate media vigilance on coverage of racism.
There are many reasons media fail to adequately challenge racism, particularly racism in high places (FAIR Blog, 6/27/14). But one rarely discussed reason is that some highly placed corporate media figures are open to racism. I documented this a while back in Extra! (4/05), after New York Times columnists David Brooks (12/7/04) and John Tierney (10/24/04) approvingly cited the work of Steve Sailer, a central figure in the promotion of racist and anti-immigrant theories.
For his part, Brooks praised a Sailer article in the American Conservative (12/20/04) promoting a movement that saw white people, as Brooks would have it, flouting Western trends toward declining birth rates by having lots of children and leaving behind the “disorder, vulgarity and danger” of cities to move to “clean, orderly” suburban and exurban settings where they can “protect their children from bad influences.”
As I wrote of Brooks’ embrace of natalism at the time:
Did Brooks understand his source’s views? A look at the American Conservative article (12/20/04) that Brooks presumably read, since he cited it, ought to have raised the suspicions of an engaged columnist. In it, Sailer describes the undesirable urban traits he says white people are trying to escape: “illegal immigrants and other poor minorities,” “ghetto hellions” and “public schools.” Are these the things Brooks meant when he alluded to “disorder, vulgarity and danger” and “bad influences” in his Times column?
In 1994, when Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray published The Bell Curve, a book espousing the so-called “academic racist” theories that black people are inherently less intelligent and more prone to crime than whites or Asians, the New York Times Book Review (10/16/94) published a fawning, credulous review by Times science reporter Malcolm Browne.
The Times wasn’t the only “liberal” outlet to praise a book that, according to co-author Murray, was largely based on sources so odious he would hide them from public view. The allegedly liberal New Republic verily gushed over the book, with editor Andrew Sullivan dedicating an entire issue of the magazine to it, and defending its key premise. Wrote Sullivan: “The notion that there might be resilient ethnic differences in intelligence is not, we believe, an inherently racist belief.”
FAIR’s Jim Naureckas (Extra!, 1/95) answered Sullivan and fellow Bell Curve defenders:
In fact, the idea that some races are inherently inferior to others is the definition of racism. What the New Republic was saying–along with other media outlets that prominently and respectfully considered the thesis of Charles Murray and the late Richard Herrnstein’s book–is that racism is a respectable intellectual position, and has a legitimate place in the national debate on race.
It goes without saying that right-wing outlets like the National Review, long steeped in bogus IQ science, biological determinism and plain old racism,were thrilled by the Bell Curve, dedicating most of an issue to the book (12/5/94), including an approving piece by Arthur Jensen, one of the patriarchs of scientific racism and one of the sources Murray had seen fit to hide from public view.
To bring us up to date, in his recent book, A Troublesome Inheritance, long-time New York Times science writer Nicholas Wade comes fully out of the closet as an adherent of academic racism.
Wade argues that race is not, as many experts say, little more than a social construct, but rather centrally important, something like destiny. One culture’s superiority over another, in one area or other, is determined by evolutionary differences–genetics–which Wade argues are forged by differing environments and manifested in various cultures. This leads Wade to some crude conclusions, like:
Populations that live at high altitudes, like Tibetans, represent another adaptation to extreme environments. The adaptation of Jews to capitalism is another such evolutionary process.
Expanding on the lack of economic success in African nations relative to those in Western Europe, Wade writes, “Variations in their nature, such as their time preference, work ethic and propensity to violence, have some bearing on the economic decisions they make.”
Perhaps Wade’s conclusions aren’t surprising, considering his reliance on some of the same sources that Charles Murray saw fit to hide from public sight. As Jon Phillips writes in “Troublesome Sources: Nicholas Wade’s Embrace of Scientific Racism“ (Hatewatch, 5/28/14), Wade employed leading scientific racists (and Murray favorites) Arthur Jensen and Richard Lynn, but didn’t seem too eager to set their work entirely in context:
Even more remarkably, Wade manages to write a summary of American eugenics that completely neglects to mention the Pioneer Fund. Founded by Nazi sympathizers in 1937, the Pioneer Fund was, and continues to be, the chief source of financial support for eugenic research in the postwar period. One cannot help but wonder if this omission is related to the fact that Wade approvingly cites Pioneer grantees like Arthur Jensen, and relies heavily on the work of the Fund’s current president, Richard Lynn, for data on the low IQs of black populations worldwide.
There’s one encouraging sign resulting from the publication of A Troublesome Inheritance: The book has fared badly with reviewers, even in the outlets where the harsher, more malicious Bell Curve thrived. For instance, Wade’s former home, the New York Times (5/15/14), ran a review that states half-way in, “This is where Mr. Wade’s argument starts to go off the rails.” The reviewer is describing Wade’s views on the differences “between tribal and modern societies”:
At times, his theorizing is merely puzzling, as when he notes that the gene variant that gives East Asians dry earwax also produces less body odor, which would have been attractive “among people spending many months in confined spaces to escape the cold.” No explanation of why ancient Europeans, presumably cooped up just as much, didn’t also develop this trait. Later, he speculates that thick hair and small breasts evolved in Asian women because they may have been “much admired by Asian men.” And why, you might ask, did Asian men alone prefer these traits?
The New Republic, which gushed over Herrnstein and Murray’s book, called Wade’s “racist” and its arguments “stupid” (5/25/14), shooting holes in its scientific rigor and unsupported assumptions. Perhaps a different editor and the fact that the piece was a reprint from the leftish UK magazine New Statesman made the difference, but the New Republic seems to have changed its mind about scientific racism.
Wade’s genetic obsession isn’t anything new. In “The Hunt for the Hat Gene,” (11/15/09), University of Pennsylvania linguist Mark Liberman noted Wade’s bizarre insistence that for every human action, cultural trait, or behavior their must be a gene, and how Wade’s seeming gene fetish leads him to over-interpreting or even fabricating the science:
Nicholas Wade is an inveterate gene-for-X enthusiast–he’s got 68 stories in the NYT index with “gene” in the headline–and he’s had two opportunities to celebrate this idea in the past few days: “Speech Gene Shows Its Bossy Nature”, 11/12/2009, and “The Evolution of the God Gene”, 11/14/2009.
Liberman explains why the first of these stories as “basically nonsense,” while the second is “a completely hypothetical just-so story” that “verges on the bizarre.”
Statistician Andrew Gelman (Slate, 5/8/14) elaborated on Wade’s gene obsession, showing how his assumptions often get him into trouble. For instance, in one passage, Wade asks, “Capital and information flow fairly freely, so what is it that prevents poor countries from taking out a loan, copying every Scandinavian institution, and becoming as rich and peaceful as Denmark?” Wade wants us to assume that genes are the answer; however, writes Gelman:
But one might just as well ask why can’t Buffalo, New York, take out a loan and become as rich (per capita) as New York City. Or, for that matter, why can’t Portugal become as rich as Denmark? After all, Portuguese are Caucasians too! One could of course invoke a racial explanation for Portugal’s relative poverty, but Wade in his book generally refers to Europe or “the West” as a single unit. My point here is not that Haitians, Portuguese and Danes are equivalent–obviously they differ in wealth, infrastructure, human capital and so forth–but that it is not at all clear that genetic differences have much of anything to do with their different economic positions.
Wade’s book has been well-received by traditional racist outlets, including VDARE.com (3/14/14), where former National Review writer John Derbyshire weighed in with “heartfelt” praise; and former National Review contributor Steve Sailer published a positive review in Taki’s Magazine (4/30/14.) (Taki’s seems to be where old bigots go when their racism takes too gauche a turn for the National Review.) Derbyshire’s and Sailer’s mutual friend Jared Taylor, who once told me he considered himself a “white separatist,” wrote his own fawning review on his American Renaissance website (3/2/14).
One thing that’s useful in racists’ adoring reviews: the revelation that they have had a fond eye on Wade for years, seeing him as one of their own. For instance, in his VDARE review, Derbyshire harshly criticizes the Science Times, the New York Times science section, which is his setup to single out Wade as an exception:
All the more reason to treasure Nicholas Wade, longtime science reporter at the Times. Wade belongs to the older tradition of science writer.
Yes, a tradition going back more than a century, as Derbyshire clarifies: “In his articles on genetics, he has distinguished himself for at least the past dozen years by writing frankly about biological race differences.” In Taki’s, Sailer praises Wade’s Times work, including a Times editorial (6/15/11) blasting the late paleontologist and bête noire of racial pseudoscience, Stephen Jay Gould, for, of all things, scientific bias.
Wade wrote his last piece for the Times on May 27, three weeks after his book was released. It’s striking that in all those years that the racist right was admiring Wade’s work, the Times either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
About Steve Rendall
Senior Media Analyst and Co-producer of CounterSpin Steve Rendall is FAIR’s senior analyst. He is co-host of CounterSpin, FAIR’s national radio show. His work has received awards from Project Censored, and has won the praise of noted journalists such as Les Payne, Molly Ivins and Garry Wills. He is co-author of The Way Things Aren’t: Rush Limbaugh’s Reign of Error (The New Press, 1995, New York City). Rendall has appeared on dozens of national television and radio shows, including appearances on CNN, C-SPAN, CNBC, MTV and Fox Morning News. He was the subject of a profile in the New York Times (5/19/96), and has been quoted on issues of media and politics in publications such as the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post and New York Times. Rendall contributed stories to the International Herald Tribune from France, Spain and North Africa; worked as a freelance writer in San Francisco; and worked as an archivist collecting historical material on the Spanish Civil War and the volunteers who fought in it. Rendall studied philosophy and chemistry at San Francisco State University, the College of Notre Dame and UC Berkeley.
Posted in: Media | Tagged: NYT
‘West seeks to knock out strategic enemies, divide & destroy Middle East’
UK: Political Party Funding – Billionaires and Lobbyists at Lavish Party with David Cameron By Nick Mathiason, Melanie Newman, and Tom Warren
Insurer AXA helps Israel kill Palestinians and steal their land July 16, 2019
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To-y
by Justin Sevakis, Mar 15th 2007
It's amazing how, in anime fandom, a show can attain near-Holy Grail status among a few hardcore fans and yet remain relatively unknown to everyone else. All it takes is a handful of people who are so passionate about a given title that they will stop at nothing to get it.
Take the 1987 OAV called To-y. Issued only once in 1987 (on LD, VHS, Beta and VHD), the laserdisc became an ultra-rare collector's item in the mid-90's, once a fansub was circulated. At one point, it's rumored that a disc was sold on eBay for US$6,000.
I was not (and am still not) of the means to spend $6,000 on a laserdisc of anything, but I counted myself as one of the faithful. And for ten years, I hoped to get my sweaty fanboy hands on it. I'm happy to report, I've finally succeeded. In a bizarre few months of coincidences and e-mail reunions, the damn thing practically fell in my lap. And then, something even cooler happened.
Special Edition: To-y (20th Anniversary Party!)
In the summer of 1987, a teenaged boy named To-y and his band, "GASP", is about to make it big. At the same time, he gets an opportunity to leave his band behind, and become even bigger.
Indeed, to the forces that want him, GASP will never be more than a blip on the radar. The world beckoning him is the world of pop stars, of prime-time concert TV shows, of screaming fangirls. GASP, meanwhile, is popular among the rebellious, the punks, the skaters, the motorcycle gangs. The sound is of the raw, sweaty variety. Though they've never released a record, the fans seem to be everywhere.
This bizarre culture clash comes to a head in the first scene of To-y. The popular idol singer of the moment, Yoji Aikawa, is at a GASP concert at the Shinjuku Loft (the Tokyo equivalent of New York's CBGB's). He's not enjoying himself. In fact, he's just sitting there. To-y, being something of a soft-spoken hot-head, is unnerved. He walks away from his microphone, approaches Aikawa, and delivers a hard punch to the cheek.
This sets the tone for To-y's future dealings with the mainstream music industry quite well: he catches the eye of Aikawa's manager, a ruthless promoter named Ms. Kato. She approaches him, saying, "staying in that band is a mistake. You could probably be even bigger than Yoji Aikawa." To-y delivers a quick verbal slap to her pride ("I don't know who that is") and walks away.
GASP, meanwhile, is about to have the biggest concert of their careers, in a gigantic outdoor amphitheater in Hibiya. The concert will also be their first record. Tickets have been sold out for weeks. But the repercussions of To-y's actions against the industry have dire consequences, and the result may just break up the band.
It's a simple story, but To-y is more about the feeling, the environment, and the era than it is any actual story. The attention to detail is a window into the Japan of twenty years ago, from the tiny Coca-Cola Classic cans to the dusty bins of record shops. Punk fashions (most of which never materialized outside of Japan, such as pointy Witches' hats) dominate, along with super-detailed accounts of popular Tokyo hangouts, adorning the screen like it's a counterculture Ghibli movie. One unforgettable scene has one of the most vivid and joyous depictions of a Japanese street festival I've ever seen.
But for all of the realism (punctuated with bits of what Nelly Furtado calls "the theatrical surrealism" of the MTV era), there is one odd character that doesn't fit the mold: To-y's pubescent female cat-girl sidekick Niya (voiced by 80's band Rebecca's lead singer Nokko). Her presence is jarring at first; she calls herself To-y's lover, dresses just like him (jeans and a loose tank-top), and prances about happily. To-y looks on with a quiet smile as if she were a hyperactive pet. Sometimes serving as comic relief (warding off the advances of To-y's sexpot cousin Sonoko, who's also a pop star under Ms. Kato), Niya is To-y's grounding force. She's there to remind us of the simple pleasures of To-y's life, and that anything more than happiness is really unimportant. Her disarming nature can immediately take the piss out of the most pretentious people, and diffuse the most awkward situations. Even as To-y is punching Aikawa in the face, he'll turn around when she calls, and grant her a smile.
For all his violence, To-y himself ends up something like Billy Budd -- a good-looking, charismatic young innocent, at once beloved to the point of obsession by those around him, and hated for his perfection by those in demonic authority. His refusal to be used by Ms. Kato and Aikawa is essentially killing Claggert, leading to accusations and the eventual fall of a peaceful existence with the rest of the band. But it's here where the parallels with Melville's story end. It's commonly accepted that Billy Budd is a reference to Jesus, and To-y is able to resurrect his dreams where Billy could not.
The manga, which runs ten volumes, goes on in a different direction, but for me the ending credits are the most moving part of the film. The "Big Ben" schoolbell rings, and we see To-y walking with Niya, who is now in a schoolgirl outfit. It's a subtle reminder that this was merely summer vacation; the enjoyable part of growing up, and that the difficulties of real life lie ahead for To-y (and everyone else). In this way, the film is an ode to the joy of being young, and the power of the idealism one has in dawn of one's adulthood. The anime chronicles one small triumph of a teenager against a cynical industry, and for all we know, there may never be another. Today, To-y would be in his 30's, but I'd like to think he still makes music.
To-y was directed by Mamoru Hamatsu, who explored similar themes in Heroic Legend of Arlsan, and features gorgeous character work by Naoyuki Onda, whom I mentioned in my review of Nineteen19. Onda also handles animation direction, presiding over some absolutely astonishing moving-camera shots. (I'll never understand how they did that without computers.) The indescribably beautiful art direction is courtesy of Shichiro Kobayashi, whose arresting visual style has graced such anime as Utena, Loveless and Angel's Egg.
No mention of To-y is complete without speaking of the music, which plays like a best-of album of Japan's progressive pop scene. Manga artist Atsushi Kamijo became friends with many musicians during his research for the manga, and here such acts as ZELDA, The Street Sliders, and even Hajime Mizoguchi (Jin-Roh, Escaflowne, and Yoko Kanno's hubby) provide lush, if eclectic selections under the supervision of Masaya Matsuura. For the unfamiliar, Matsuura's band Psy•S was one of the late 80's and early 90's more experimental J-pop bands, and since then he's formed video game developer Nanaon-sha, and his games Parappa the Rapper and Um Jammer Lammy have become international best-sellers. (Several of his other awesome-looking rhythm games for PS2 have not been released stateside.)
For To-y, Psy•S' amazing opening and ending themes, Lemon no Yuuki and Cubic Lovers, are as essential to the show as the characters themselves. Never mind that Mami "Chaka" Yasunori's piercing female voice is what we hear when we see To-y open his mouth.. Just like the rest of the anime, it's the feeling that's important.
Obscure-O-Meter™
A Abundant. Available anywhere that carries anime.
C Common. In print, and always available online.
R1 US release out of print, still in stock most places.
R2 US release out of print, not easy to find.
R3 Import only, but it has English on it.
R4 Import only. Fansubs commonly available.
R5 Import only, and out of print. Fansubs might be out there.
R6 Import long out of print. No fansubs are known to exist.
R7 Very rare. Limited import release or aired on TV with no video release. No fansubs known to exist.
R8 Never been on the market. Almost impossible to obtain.
Adapted from Soviet-Awards.com.
As mentioned above, To-y is perhaps more known for its rarity than anything else. Trying to find the laserdisc is an exercise in futility... unless you get as lucky as I did...
Thanks in part to an ANN forum post (thanks, Area88!) I discovered the fabled laserdisc listed on eBay. Luckily, declining interest in laserdiscs meant that the price barely broke $100. Boy, did I want this thing. I'm not what you would call a frequent eBay user, but I knew the tricks, and bid so hard and so furious in the last few minutes of the auction that I worked up a sweat!
I lost. By ten seconds and $2.50. I was heartbroken. And then, the planets must have aligned, because from that point on, the anime started wanting ME. The guy selling the LD turned out to be an old acquaintance from my days in the late 90's fansub scene; he had another copy and was planning to digitize it. Another old friend of mine I hadn't talked to in years saw the auction and offered it to me for the price it sold for. Overjoyed, I started assembling myself a neat DVD version, and started e-mailing some prominent To-y fans, trying to track down some of the music I was missing.
This lead me to something I never would have expected: a fan restoration. Already underway for months was, to my knowledge, a first-of-it's-kind digital restoration, the sort classic anime is getting in japan these days, except performed entirely by old-school otaku. I was treated to an early look at the fruits of what had been a laborious process: countless hours of digital filtering and frame-by-frame retouching have resulted in a new version of To-y that looks as clean and pristine as if it had been animated yesterday. To-y was known for being one of the poorest quality LD's in anime history, so this is no small feat. A digisub version (with a new translation) was released a few days ago.
Upon revisiting this new version, I was genuinely surprised at how much different the show felt. I hadn't noticed in the years spent watching my aging VHS fansub copy, but the washed-out colors and video problems I had taken for granted had affected my viewing in an imperceptible way: as a visual barrier between myself as the viewer, and the world of To-y. It felt more distant, the characters were harder to see into. The new version suffers none of these issues, and I found myself even more involved than I had even imagined. I'm not normally one that refuses to watch a poor quality copy of something, so this was something of a revelation to me.
There is no hope To-y will ever get a domestic release, and fading hope of a Japanese one. As so many important musical acts are included in the program, music rights are thought to be a major issue to any re-release or international sales the show might have gotten. So therefore, this is one fansub in my collection that I will treasure as much as any hard-won import or rare commercial disc. It's something that fans achieved, through hard work and dedication, that would not have been possible any other way.
Fan restorations are a new by-product of the advances in desktop video in the last decade. There are many fan restorations online of everything from the original versions of Star Wars to the great unfinished animated classic "The Thief and the Cobbler," but the phenomenon has not been seen in the anime community until now. There are many fantastic, rare shows that will likely never see release again, in any country. For the sake of the art form, it's my sincere hope that we have not seen the last of the anime fan-restoration.
Screenshots ©1987 Atsushi Kamijo/Shogakukan/CBS Sony. All Rights Reserved.
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I am a victim of sexual assault, reveals Kellyanne Conway
Washington DC [USA], Sept 30 (ANI): White House counselor Kellyanne Conway opened up about being sexually assaulted in the past and expressed empathy for other victims of sexual assault.
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135 Arrested In Anti-Loansharking Blitz
The Police have arrested 92 men and 43 women, aged between 17 and 68, for their suspected involvement in loansharking activities in an operation conducted from 22 to 24 October 2018.
Officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and six police land divisions conducted simultaneous raids at multiple locations islandwide, resulting in the arrests. Preliminary investigations revealed that 25 suspects are believed to have carried out Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transfers on behalf of loansharks, and seven other suspects are believed to have carried out acts of loanshark harassment by splashing paint and scrawling loanshark-related graffiti on walls.
The remaining 103 suspects are believed to have opened bank accounts and given away their ATM cards and Personal Identification Numbers to loansharks to facilitate unlicensed moneylending businesses. Investigations are ongoing.
Under the Moneylenders’ Act (Revised Edition 2010), when a bank account or ATM card of any person is used to facilitate moneylending by an unlicensed moneylender, that person is presumed to have assisted in the carrying on the business of unlicensed moneylending.
First-time offenders found guilty of carrying on a business of unlicensed moneylending may be fined between $30,000 and $300,000, be imprisoned for a term of up to four years and shall also be liable to be punished with caning of up to six strokes.
First-time offenders found guilty of assisting in the business of unlicensed moneylending may be fined between $30,000 and $300,000, be imprisoned for a term of up to four years and shall also be liable to be punished with caning of up to six strokes.
First-time offenders found guilty of acting on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender, committing or attempting to commit any acts of harassment shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of up to five years, a fine of between $5,000 and $50,000, and shall also be liable to caning of between three and six strokes.
The Police will continue to take tough enforcement action against those involved in the loansharking business, regardless of their roles, and they will face the full brunt of the law. This would include taking action against those who open or give away their bank account/s to aid unlicensed moneylenders.
Loansharks are increasingly sending unsolicited loan advertisements via text messages or online platforms. Members of the public are reminded not to reply or respond to such advertisements, and report the number as spam. Members of the public are also advised to stay away from loansharks and not to work with or assist the loansharks in any way. The public can call the Police at ‘999’ or the X-Ah Long hotline at 1800-924-5664 if they suspect or know of anyone who could be involved in illegal loansharking activities.
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"[Bono] doesn't care what people think. And that's an incredible gift. And also a real curse. We would prefer that he took care of himself." — Larry
"The Dream Is Over"
The first concert this song was played was 02/04/1980 at Country Club in Cork.
The last concert this song was played was 05/11/1980 at Garden Of Eden in Tullamore.
The last concert this song was not played was 11/13/2018 at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin.
This song was originally released on Other U2 Songs.
11 O'Clock Tick Tock
May 11, 1980, Garden Of Eden, Tullamore Ireland
Mar 19, 1980, Acklam Hall, Notting Hill England
Mar 02, 1980, Garden Of Eden, Tullamore Ireland
Mar 01, 1980, Arcadia Ballroom, Cork Ireland
Feb 26, 1980, National Stadium, Dublin Ireland
Feb 04, 1980, Country Club, Cork Ireland
Dec 01, 1979, Moonlight Club, London England
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Home | Academics | Faculty | Basic Sciences
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Robert Mallin, MD – University Provost
Dr. Mallin graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in 1981 and finished a residency in Family Medicine at the same institution in 1984.
He was a tenured professor at the Medical University of South Carolina and a staff physician in hospitals throughout South Carolina. He is the recipient of the Teacher of the Year Trident/MUSC Family Medicine Residency award, Golden Oyster Teaching Award MUSC/Trident Family Medicine Residency Program, Navy Achievement Medal for lifesaving medical services rendered to an injured sailor, and numerous Teacher of the Month awards.
Samuel LeBaron, MD, PhD – Executive Dean of Basic Sciences
Vernon Solomon, LRCP, MSc. C.Dir. – Vice President of Administration and Community Affairs and Director of EMTCProfessor Vernon Solomon completed his BSc in respiratory therapy, and his studies continued with a focus on critical and prehospital care. He completed his MSc with honors, with a special emphasis on Health Administration, Health Promotion and Wellness Education. He also studied polosomnography at the Stanford School of Sleep Medicine.
Professor Solomon joined AUA in 2007. He was an American Heart Association ECC instructor within the AUA Emergency Medicine Training Centre (EMTC). His passion for emergency medicine and prehospital care drove him to advance AUA’s EMTC programs to include courses in paramedicine, and he worked to establish AUA’s first state-of-the-art Clinical Skills and Simulation Lab. As Director of the Department of Clinical Simulations, Professor Solomon and his team utilize realistic, skillfully designed scenarios, to promote deliberate practice and integrated learning for AUA’s first and second year medical students.
Professor Solomon has completed research on risk factor surveillance and health education programs in small and/or rural communities. He started student led organizations to raise awareness on NCDs, Asthma, and Emergency Medicine, and works closely with students and faculty to raise community awareness on a wide range of health related topics. He is currently the host of a local talk show called Healthy Perspectives that aims to empower all Caribbean citizens to tackle today’s most pressing health challenges, while fighting to end health inequalities.
Recently appointed as Vice President for Administrative Services and Community Affairs, Professor Solomon oversees the university’s administrative support services, ensuring they remain aligned with the academic goals of the institution, while also restructuring to ensure increased productivity, decreased spending, and an enhanced campus experience for all AUA students.
Hassan Amiralli, MD, MS – Professor & Chair
Dr. Amiralli is Professor and Chair of the Department of Anatomy at American University of Antigua (AUA) College of Medicine.
He obtained his MBBS at Government Medical College in Srinagar, India in 1975 and his MS in General Surgery in 1980 from JN Medical College, also in India. Dr. Amiralli’s distinguished career as a surgeon, researcher, and medical educator spans more than 30 years across three continents.
He has worked as consulting surgeon for the Red Crescent in Dubai; a professor and consulsting surgeon in the Department of Surgery at the University of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania; a research associate in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Western Ontario in Canada; and a research consultant in the Department of General Surgery at Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in Yazd, Iran.
Dr. Amiralli received his training in Breast Oncology in the Department of Surgery at McGill University’s Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, Canada. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, is a lifetime member of the Association of Fellows of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), and Vice Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Austral-Asian Journal of Cancer. Dr. Amiralli also reviews journal articles. In 2017 he reviewed and suggested updates for the clinical content in the Clinical Blue Boxes of the textbook of anatomy: Clinically Oriented Anatomy 8th edition. He is a member of International Advisory Board of the Netter/Atlas of Human Anatomy 7th edition.
Sujatha D’Costa, MSc, PhD – Professor
Dr. Sujatha D’Costa obtained her Ph.D degree in Anatomy from Manipal University, India, where she worked on the evaluation of role of argyrophilic cells in the causation of cervical preneoplasia and cervical cancer in Mangalore. Prior to her Ph.D degree, Dr. Sujatha obtained a M.Sc. in Anatomy from the same university. She has been teaching anatomy since 1999 at KMC Mangalore, Manipal University, India. Presently she is working as an Associate Professor in Anatomy since 2013
Ashwin Krishnamurthy, MBBS, MD – Associate Professor & Deputy Chair
Shyamala Ganesan, MBBS – Assistant Professor
Obtained her Msc. degree in Anatomy from Manipal University where she was trained to teach Anatomy for medical and paramedical students. She taught embryology, radiology, and osteology at a medical school in South India (Pondicherry) from 2009 to 2011 to MBBS, MD, and nursing students. She treated patients with exercise in orthopaedic (Rheumatoid arthritis, oesteo arthritis, cervical & lumbar spondylosis, interverbral disc prolapse), neurology (Hemiplegia, paraplegia), Parkinson’s & cerebral palsy, and post traumatic stress. She obtained a Pg diploma degree in yoga in Annamalai University. She is pursuing an Msc. degree in clinical psychology counseling from Annamalai University.
Samuel Joshua, PhD, BPT, MSc. – Assistant Professor
Adekunle Omole, MBChB, PGDE, MSc. – Assistant Professor
Noha Hussien, MD,PhD – Assistant Professor
Samantha Colucci, MD – Assistant Professor
James Rice, Rhd – Associate Dean of Admissions and Student Affairs
Dr. James M. Rice received his doctoral degree in rehabilitation from Southern Illinois University in 1983. He initially taught at St. Cloud State University and also at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis from 1981 to 1989. He became a licensed Psychologist in 1983 and worked as a hospital-based psychologist working with chronic pain, spinal-cord injured, stroke, and traumatic brain injury patients. In 1990, he was a founding partner and president of Medical Psychology Associates, PC, a private practice in Indianapolis, Indiana providing psychological assessment, treatment, and consultation services. In 2008, Dr. Rice joined the faculty at the American University of Antigua College of Medicine. He is currently Associate Dean of Admissions, Associate Dean of Student Affairs, and Professor of Behavioral Science & Neuroscience. His current clinical and research interests include the psychosocial aspects of chronic disease and disability.
Steve Glasser, PhD – Professor
Dr. Glasser received his B.A. in Psychology (1971), M.Sc. in Physiology (1977), and Ph.D. in Physiology (1978) from the University of Rochester.
In 1978, while writing his doctoral thesis, and in 1979, Dr. Glasser completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University in lower vertebrate visual system development, under the aegis of Dr. David Ingle.
His faculty appointments began as an Assistant Professor in Biology at Long Island University (1979-1982).
In 1983, Dr. Glasser served as the Director of Basic Sciences and Assistant Professor of Physiology at the University of St. Lucia School of Medicine.
In 1984, Dr. Glasser was recruited to St. Georges University School of Medicine as an Associate Professor of Neuroanatomy. Within a year, he had expanded his responsibility with a joint appointment in Physiology and was promoted to Associate Professor. In 1986, he was appointed Course Director and Chairman of the Department of Neuroscience. In 1989, he was appointed Associate Dean of the Pre-Clinical Faculty and Chair of the Curriculum Committee.
Dr. Glasser became an Associate Professor at the New York Chiropractic College in 1994, where he developed a Pharmacology course and was the lead instructor in Neuroanatomy, Control Systems Physiopathology, Visceral Physiopathology and Pharmacology.
In 1999, Dr. Glasser became an Associate Professor at Ross University School of Medicine teaching Neuroscience. Shortly, thereafter he was appointed Director for that course. He undertook the responsibility of Curriculum Coordinator in 2000 and in 2001 was promoted to full Professor of Physiology and Neuroscience.
Dr. Glasser served as a professor at American University of the Caribbean from September 2002 until February 2004. He taught Neuroscience, Behavioral Science, Pharmacology and Physiology, and served in the Student Academic Affairs, Admissions and Curriculum Committees.
In February, 2004 Dr. Glasser was appointed as the founding Dean at American University of Antigua (AUA). He has served as the Associate Dean of Academic Organization, Associate Dean of Faculty, Professor and Chair of Neuroscience. He also served on the following committees at AUA: Dean’s Council; Department Chairs; Admissions (Former Chair); Faculty Affairs (Former Chair) and Student Promotions.
Don Kastuk, PhD – Professor
Don Kastuk is a Counselor and a Professor of Behavior Science and Neuroscience. He has extensive experience with Caribbean medical education, and he has been with AUACOM since its first year in 2004. He earned a PhD in psychology from York University, where his dissertation addressed recovery from brain injury. He also holds an MS degree in Hyperbaric Medicine, and an MA in psychology where his graduate work involved research regarding the effects of hormone levels on brain function. He is a certified and experienced professional scuba diving instructor, and he holds credentials and instructor qualifications in first aid and emergency care. Dr. Kastuk has won awards for his teaching and has been involved in research in hospital, university, clinic, and private-practice settings. He is especially interested in the connections between medicine and psychology.
Vasavi Gorantla, MSc, PhD – Associate Professor
Dr. Gorantla obtained his Ph.D. degree in Neuroanatomy from Manipal University, India, where he worked on Temporal Lobe Epilepsy-Role of Exercise, Environmental enrichment and Pyramid – A Behavioral and Morphological study in rats. Prior to his Ph.D. degree Dr.Rakesh obtained a M.Sc. in Medical Anatomy from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, India. He has been teaching for American University of Antigua College of Medicine since September 2013. His current research interests include Hippocampal neurogenesis, memory and learning.
Jeffrey Jarosinski, PhD – Associate Professor
Lynn McKnight, LPC/S, CCS, MAC, ATR-BC – Assistant Professor & Director of Counseling Services
Professor McKnight received her master degree from the University of Louisville, majoring in counseling with a specialization in expressive therapies. Her thesis research focused on assessing for field dependent and independent cognitive styles, and their implications in learning and memory. Professor McKnight obtained post graduate course work in addictions studies and in psychology from the University of South Carolina and Capella University. She went on to become the clinical director at Crossroads Center Antigua, and the outpatient director for Pavillon International; both centers of excellence in the addictions treatment field. She is licensed as a professional counselor, a professional counselor supervisor, and a clinical addictions specialist. She is certified as a master addictions counselor, board certified and registered art therapist and certified clinical supervisor. She currently teaches behavioral science and directs the counseling center at AUACOM, as well as provides clinical supervision for the clinical staff at Crossroads Center.
BIOCHEMISTRY, CELL BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Bolanthur Shivaraj, BSc, MSc, PhD – Professor & Chair
Dr. Shivaraj received his MSc and PhD at Kasturba Medical College (KMC) in Manipal, India, from the Universities of Mysore and Kerala respectively. He taught Medical Biochemistry to undergraduate and postgraduate medical/paramedical students at KMC for 32 years (from 1975-2007). In addition, Dr. Shivaraj was an active researcher and successfully mentored four PhD students. His research areas included natural enzyme inhibitors, protein-protein interaction, urinary lipid profiles, and halogenation of proteins. Dr. Shivaraj has published 11 papers on the international medical journals. He joined American University of Antigua (AUA) College of Medicine as a full-time professor in January 2010.
Nandini Rao, PhD – Professor & Deputy Chair
After obtaining a PhD in medical biochemistry from Manipal University, India, she completed her post doctoral studies in the dept. of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Indiana School of Medicine, Indianapolis, on the mechanism of action of PTH on the bone. After working as a visiting research scientist at Indiana School of Medicine, Terre Haute where she studied on the froglet limb regeneration, Dr. Rao went on a scientific adventure on salamander limb regeneration at Purdue School of Science, Indianapolis. Her research experience includes proteomics, genomics, purification of proteins etc. In addition to publications in internationally indexed journals, she is also a co author for a chapter In “Principles of Regenerative Medicine”, for which Thompson J is one of the editors. Dr. Rao as a faculty in Manipal, taught medical Biochemistry for about 15 years and taught molecular biology and cell biology in Terre Haute and Indianapolis, in addition to Medical Biochemistry. She is also a member of Indiana University Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine.
Karron James, PhD – Associate Professor
Dr. Karron James graduated from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada with a bachelor of science degree in 1999. There, she completed the honors program doing research to identify surface virulence factors of Listeria monocytogenes.
Marcus Merrin, PhD – Associate Professor (Blackboard Administrator)
Current interests include genetic disorders of metabolism, population genetics, and evolutionary game theory.
John Th’ng, PhD – Associate Professor
Dr. John Th’ng has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. His doctorate thesis was on DNA repair in mammalian cells. He did his post-doctoral training in the Department of Medical Biochemistry at the School of Medicine, University of California (Davis), California, USA. His research focus was on cell cycle regulation and chromosome structure in mammalian cells. Dr. Th’ng then became a Project Director and Assistant Professor at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, McGill University (Montreal, Canada). He later moved to the Thunder Bay Regional Cancer Centre (Thunder Bay, Canada). His research as a Scientist was focused on the chromosomes and the cell cycle in cancer cells. Dr. Th’ng was also an Associate Professor and taught at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (Thunder Bay, Canada). In addition to his academic experience, Dr. Th’ng had worked in the biotechnology industry. He established the DNA-based rapid detection of mold and bed bug contaminations in homes, produced agents for screening autoimmune diseases, and was a consultant to a forensic DNA company. Since June, 2013, Dr. Th’ng has been teaching Medical Cell Biology and Molecular Biology at the American University of Antigua School of Medicine.
Rajashekar B. Rao, MSc, PhD – Associate Professor
Dr. Rajashekar Barkur Rao received his MSc in Medical Biochemistry from Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, and his PhD from Manipal University, India. Dr. Rao joined AUA as an Associate Professor in Biochemistry in January 2017. He has been teaching biochemistry to medical students for the past 17 years. Before joining AUA, Dr. Rao taught at Melaka-Manipal Medical College, Manipal University, India.
Dr. Rao has 11 scientific publications and nine conference presentations to his credit and is a reviewer for many indexed journals. He is also a PhD guide for Manipal University, India. Some of Dr. Rao’s work has focused on determining the effects of lead-induced oxidative stress on prenatal and postnatal brain development in rats.
Joseph Cross, PhD – Assistant Professor
Sebastian Roopa, PhD – Assistant Professor
Leslie Walwyn, MBBS, MPH – Professor & Acting Chair
Dr. Walwyn is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, Faculty of Medicine (1992), with a Master of Public Health degree (2000) from the same institution.
Dr. Walwyn joined the American University of Antigua (AUA) College of Medicine full-time as an Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical Medicine in February 2015. She has over 25 years of experience in the field of family medicine, and for the past fourteen years she has been heavily involved in preventive medicine at the public health level. Her passion is chronic disease prevention, including mental health illness, and she has designed, coordinated, and executed multiple public health interventions. Dr. Walwyn’s research interests include preventive measures for cervical cancer and mental wellbeing. She is currently the Acting Chairman of the Department of Clinical Medicine at AUACOM. She is also Chairman of the Antigua and Barbuda Medical Council.
Jenifer Cannon, MD, FACOG – Professor
Dr. Cannon obtained her degree in medicine from St. Louis University School of Medicine in 1988, where she graduated with honors and nomination to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honors Medical Society. Following graduation, Dr. Cannon finished her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis and received her board certification for OB/GYN in 1994. While in St. Louis Dr. Cannon had an active private practice and was a full time faculty member for the residency program she graduated from. In 2009, Dr. Cannon shifted her teaching focus to pre-clinical medical students specializing in integration of basic sciences and clinical sciences through high fidelity simulation, problem based learning and small group teaching. She has been with AUA since 2014 and is currently the Chair of the Department of Clinical Medicine. Her hobbies include gardening, sailing and snorkeling.
Waheeda Amiralli, MD – Professor & Deputy Chair
Dr. Waheeda Amiralli received her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from Aligargh Muslim University, Aligargh, India. She also received her Certificate in Tropical Medicine from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Department of Health and Medical Service in Dubai, UAE and her Certificate in Epidemiology and Public Health Aspects of Diabetes in Cambridge, England. Dr. Waheeda Amiralli brings with her 20 years of Clinical teaching experience. In the department of Medicine at Muhimbili University College of Heath Sciences she was responsible for training medical students. She has done research on many projects including Diabetes Mellitus and Pituitary tumors. She has published several papers in the Lancet, Practical Diabetes digest and East African medical journals. She has been the course director for ICMI and ICMII courses over the past 8 years and is Professor in the department of Clinical Medicine at AUA.
Srikanteswara Viswanath, MBBS, MS – Professor
After finishing his MD and MS in Mysore Medical College, India; Dr. Sri went on to do his Senior Residency in Clinical Anatomy at JIMPER (Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate education and research, India). He has worked extensively on the blood flow patterns to the thyroid gland in normal and disease states. He also continues to work in the cost effective techniques of tube plastination. After working in St. Lucia for seven years, has been teaching Clinical Anatomy and Embryology at the American University of Antigua since 2007. Since 2010, Dr. Sri has found his passion in medical simulations and adult learning theory. Being iSim certified he also had his IMS Comprehensive Instructor training at Center for Medical Simulation, Harvard Hospital in Boston and has been coordinating medical simulations Lab, through debriefing medical case scenarios and pursuing research in the medical simulation. He has been currently pursuing an online Masters in Medical Simulation at Drexel University, Philadelphia.
Eli Tumba Tshibwabwa, MD, MMED, PhD – Professor
Dr. Eli Tshibwabwa is a Professor of Clinical Medicine and the Radiology theme coordinator.
Dr. Eli Tshibwabwa earned his medical degree in 1974 and completed his residency training in diagnostic radiology at the Université Nationale du Zaire in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This training was followed by a clinical fellowship and a research fellowship in computed tomography, ultrasound, neuroradiology, histomorphometry, interventional radiology, and tropical medicine at the Gasthuisberg University Hospital of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. He also obtained his PhD in Radiology at the Catholic University of Leuven Faculty of Medicine in 1986, and later completed a clinical fellowship in diagnostic radiology, medical education, and international health at McMaster University Medical Centre in Hamilton, Ontario. Dr. Tshibwabwa was Associate Professor in the Department of Radiology at McMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences, and was the Department Education Coordinator (DEC) in the Department of Radiology at McMaster from 2004-09.
His clinical, educational, and research interests include diagnostic radiology; ultrasound anatomy teaching; global health (HIV/AIDS, lung diseases in the Tropics); medical education with a focus on problem-based, concepts-based, and small-group learning; early exposure of students to bedside ultrasound; the development of radiology teaching resources for undergraduate and graduate teaching; and international medical education.
Dr. Tshibwabwa is the recipient of the following awards: The 2013 Outstanding Preceptor in Pre-Clerkship, McMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences, Undergraduate Medical Program, Class of 2013, Hamilton, Ontario; since 2010, the Supervisory Privileges of Graduate Faculty Status as a Supervisor in McMaster University, Faculty of Health Sciences Affiliated Graduate Program, Field: Master of Science in Global Health Program; the 2003 McMaster University Medicine Excellence in Teaching Award, Contribution to Unit 2 of the MD Program, MD Class of 2005, Hamilton, Ontario. He also was granted the 2000 and 2008 International Visiting Professorship of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Nagaraj Mysore, MD – Professor & Assistant Proctor
Dr Nagaraj Mysore obtained MD in pediatrics from Kuvempu university of Karnataka state, India. He was awarded with diploma in child health (DCH) prior to his MD in pediatric residency. His Basic science medical graduation was from Bangalore University, Karnataka. Upon graduation in pediatrics he served JSS Medical College University for 10 years as an Associate professor. He was in charge head of “Neonatology” for 3 years in that University hospital. Dr Mysore was instrumental in getting “Baby friendly hospital” recognition for JSS medical college university from “Breast feeding promotion network of India (BPNI)”. He later served “Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences” Bangalore, India as a Professor and Unit chief of Pediatrics. He moved to USA to pursue his career in pediatrics.
He worked with a group of pediatric research associates in IUPUI, Indianapolis, USA on “Metabolic syndrome in young children”. He later was associated with a pediatric group practice in New Jersey before joining AUA as an associate professor in the department of clinical Medicine. Dr Mysore has been teaching all four semesters of ICM since 2009. He participates in didactic lectures, clinical skill small groups and integrated medical education sessions. He has represented Karnataka state in cricket and has the honor of played along with former Indian cricket players. His interest is in “Neonatal emergencies” and “Lactation problems in young infants”.
Sudha Kannavar, MD, OBGYN, ECFMG, CRM – Professor
Dr Sudha Kannavar: M D (OB/GYN), ECFMG, MBBS, CRM. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical Medicine for American University of Antigua. She is an MD graduate in Obstetric and Gynecology from Kuvempu University India with 14 years of clinical experience as an OB/GYN consultant .Dr Kannavar is an innovative and renowned teacher with 10 years of teaching experience at Mysore and Kuvempu Medical Universities, India. Dr Kannavar has five years of United States Clinical experience. She has been trained as an Extern in the Department of Hemato Oncology at “Indiana Cancer Hospital” Indiana; USA .She has additional training in the specialties of Internal Medicine, Family practice at New Jersey. She gathered the research experience on recurrent pregnancy loss also served as Teaching faculty and clinical Research Associate in oncology and Endocrinology clinical trials at New Jersey.
Dr Kannavar has been teaching all four semesters of ICM since 2009. She is a standardized patient’s trainer, Theme coordinator of semester 1 and 2 IME programs and AUA community health fair coordinator. She participates in clinical skill small groups and integrated medical education sessions. She received an award for District coordinator of breast feeding Practice, National Institute of India. She is an active member of The Federation of Obstetric Gynecological Societies of India (FOGSI), American Congress of Obstetrician and Gynecology (ACOG), Breastfeeding Promotion Networking of India (BPNI), Association of Clinical Research Professionals of United States (ACRP).
Michael Burg, MD – Associate Professor
Edmond Mansoor, MBBS – Assistant Professor
After obtaining a first class honors degree in biology and chemistry from St. Mary’s University in Nova Scotia, Canada, Edmond Mansoor then obtained his degree in medicine in 1992 from the Faculty of Medical Sciences at University of the West Indies (UWI). He trained both at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) in Jamaica and at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Barbados. He was awarded the top prize in surgery.
Dr. Mansoor worked in private practice as an outstanding Family Physician for a decade, with a special focus on non-communicable diseases, particularly chronic essential hypertension, diabetes mellitus and asthma
Dr. Mansoor is a past president of the Antigua & Barbuda Medical Association and past President of the Senate in the Parliament of Antigua and Barbuda.
For a decade, he served in the Government of Antigua and Barbuda as Minister with responsibility for telecommunications, information technology and science.
His current interests include public health education that leverages on new media, digital technologies and social media, and the convergence of medicine and technology.
Kasim Williams, MD – Assistant Professor
Carolyn Edmondson, MBBS,PGTRF, PGCFM – Assistant Professor
Jovita Herrera, MD – Assistant Professor
Meili LeBaron, L.Ac., D.A.O.M. – Assistant Professor
Courtney Lewis, MD – Assistant Professor
Dr. Lewis earned an MD from the Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina and immediately returned to Antigua where he served as a Hospital Officer at the Mount St John’s Medical Center until leaving to pursue a career in Academia. He currently serves the American University of Antigua as the Director of the Department of Clinical Medicine’s Clinical Simulation Program, the Vice Director of the Emergency Medical Training Center and as an on-campus, registered physician. He continues to serve the AUA family and the People of Antigua and Barbuda by being an integral participant in all community service activities the College of Medicine provides.
Elena-Maria Villamil, PhD – Assistant Professor
Helen Makinde, MD – Instructor
EDUCATIONAL ENHANCEMENT
Joy A. Cox, PhD – Associate Professor & Interim Chair
Dr. Joy Cox earned her PhD in Educational Counseling and Personnel Services from the University of Louisville, Kentucky, specializing in College Student Personnel. Her master’s degree in School Counseling is also from the University of Louisville, and her bachelor’s degree from the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill, Barbados, is in Biology. Dr. Cox’s career path has been focused on teaching Biology on the high school and college levels. Dr. Cox worked as an academic advisor for seven years before receiving her PhD. Her research interests include student persistence and retention factors, academic counseling, and academic strategies for success in college. As an educator, Dr. Cox is most passionate about directing students on how to become self-regulated learners. She believes in a student-centered curriculum and approaches education enrichment from a holistic perspective.
Sonya Ford, PhD – Assistant Professor
Dr. Ford has spent her career encouraging students to reach their fullest potential. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Old Dominion University, a Master of Science degree in School Counseling from Johns Hopkins University, and a Doctorate of Education in Counseling Psychology from the American School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University. Dr. Ford holds Certificates of Advanced Graduate Study from Johns Hopkins University in Clinical Community Counseling and Higher Education. She is also a National Certified Counselor (NCC) and National Certified School Counselor (NCSC). Dr. Ford was an adjunct professor at Walden University and also had a private practice counseling adolescents and adults. She has presented at local, state, and national conferences on advocating for student success.
Trevor Ngorosha, PhD – Assistant Professor/CN Coordinator
Dr. Trevor Ngorosha earned his doctorate in Educational Leadership from Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio, with a concentration in Adult and Experiential Learning. He holds two master’s degrees in Educational Psychology, and Curriculum and Teacher Leadership, from the University of Zimbabwe and Miami University, respectively. Dr. Ngorosha earned his bachelor’s degree in English and Linguistics, and a Graduate Certificate in Education from the University of Zimbabwe as well. While studying at Miami University, he also earned a Graduate Certificate in Professional Development: Instructional Design and Technology.
Dr. Ngorosha’s teaching and research interests are in human development, performance and learning, small-group learning, and faculty professional learning. Before joining AUA College of Medicine, he taught at Miami University as an Adjunct Professor. Prior to studying and teaching at Miami University, Dr. Ngorosha taught English and Literature at Murewa High School and served as a debate coach, syllabus developer, and national trainer of examiners in Zimbabwe.
Andrea Vaughans, MD – Assistant Professor
Dr. Vaughans earned her MD at St. George’s University, School of Medicine, Grenada, where she then worked as a learning strategist and instructor for four years, before pursuing clinical practice at the Scarborough General Hospital, Tobago.
With an interest in helping students develop their learning styles, Dr. Vaughans has also worked at the Institute of the Medical Board, Kansas, preparing students and physicians for the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Steps 1, 2 and 3. She continues to enjoy advising students as they prepare for this crucial exam.
Vernon Lindsay, PhD – Assistant Professor
Dr. Vernon Lindsay earned his PhD in Policy Studies in Urban Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago. His academic interests include culturally responsive curriculum, youth development theory, critical race theory in education, critical pedagogy, and Africana studies. He is the author of the book Critical Race and Education for Black Males: When Pretty Boys Become Men. Before joining the staff of American University of Antigua, he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Teaching and Mentoring with the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Honors College.
Lindsay has presented research that highlights intersections between social inequalities and education at several notable conferences. These include the Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color, the American Education Research Association, and the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education. In the summer of 2016, Dr. Lindsay, his wife and three small children put their home on the market, sold their cars and many other personal possessions, and moved to Mazatlan, Sinaloa Mexico. While living in Mexico, he worked as an educational consultant, a writer for several online publications, and a leadership coach.
Petjiuaje Tjiparuro, MD, MPH, PGCME, BSC – Assistant Professor
Dawn Roberts, MA – Instructor/Academic Advisor
Dawn Roberts is a doctoral candidate in Educational Leadership at Liberty University. She earned her Bachelor of Science from the University of Delaware with concentrations in Human Resources and Consumer Economics. She earned a Master of Arts in Applied Sociology and a Non-Profit Sector Certificate. While earning her master’s, she researched the causes of the attrition of underrepresented minority students. She has over 12 years of higher education experience, working in many different capacities with US medical students, including advising and training, engagement and development, higher education administration, policy and program development, as well as diversity and community outreach. Dawn is a member of the Wellness Committee and coordinates Puppy Play Day. She is extremely passionate about cultivating a tradition of excellence and success among medical students.
MICROBIOLOGY/IMMUNOLOGY
Balachandran Bharati, MSc, PhD – Professor & Chair
Dr. Bharati received a Ph.D in medical microbiology from the Manipal University.
She started her career as lecturer in Microbiology at St. Aloysius College, Mangalore where she was entrusted with the task of planning and setting up the department of Microbiology for the B.Sc. degree course.
In 1992, she joined Kasturba Medical College as Lecturer and was teaching the undergraduate students of Medicine, Dental, Physiotherapy and the post graduate students of microbiology. She was in charge of the Molecular Diagnostic (PCR) section of the Department where she carried out PCR for the detection of M.tuberculosis and other infectious agents like leptospira, Herpes Simplex viruses from clinical samples. She was also actively involved in clinical diagnostic work at the microbiology college laboratory, Blood Bank, and the AIDS Surveillance Centre. She was actively involved in the design, planning and setting up of a state of the art clinical diagnostic and molecular diagnostic laboratory at Kasturba Medical College, Hospital, Mangalore and a research molecular laboratory at the Microbiology Department, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore
She was awarded a Ph.D. degree on “Evaluation of Conventional and Molecular Methods in the Diagnosis of Bacterial Meningitis” under the guidance of Dr. Indrani Karunasagar.
Ashraya Jagadeesh, MD – Associate Professor
Nagalakshmi Swamy, PhD – Assistant Professor
OFFICE OF ACADEMIC OUTCOMES
Juli Valtschanoff, MD – Associate Dean of Assessments & Evaluations
Neville Fernandez, MBBS, MD, MS – Professor/Chief Proctor
Dr. Neville Fernandez is an ECFMG certified Physician Microbiologist who graduated from Manipal University, Karnataka, India. He worked at A.J. Institute of Medical Sciences, Mangalore, India where he taught Microbiology and Immunology, and was a core member of the Hospital Infection Control Committee. He also worked in the department of medical education where he was the lead coordinator of the faculty evaluation program. In October 2009, Dr. Fernandez joined AUACOM where he taught Microbiology & Immunology to second year medical students, besides serving as the campus chief proctor for the university. In 2017, he graduated with a MS in Instructional Design & Technology from Walden University. After serving at AUACOM for eight and a half years, he moved to St. Matthew’s University in the Grand Cayman, in May 2018.
Dr. Fernandez returned to AUACOM in June 2019 where he currently serves as the Director of the Examination Center and Campus Chief Proctor in the Office of Academic Outcomes. He is responsible for the planning, organizing, and reporting of all assessments and evaluations.
Hani Morcos, MD, PhD – Professor & Chair
Dr. Morcos received his MD in 1986 from Alexandria University School of Medicine in Egypt. He is ECFMG certified in 1996 and received PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology in 2005 from Florida A&M University. He held a position of Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at University of Miami, FL. Dr. Morcos is a licensed Physician in Antigua and carries wide experience in teaching and research from University of Miami, Florida A&M University and Florida State University. Dr. Morcos’s research paper on “the effects of simvastatin (Zocor) on the memory of Alzheimer’s disease” had made headlines in the Washington Post as well as several health news sites in the US and around the world.
Sapalya Durgaprasad, MD – Professor
Dr. Durgaprasad S obtained his MD degree from Manipal University in the year 2003. During his residency years he worked with dept. of Gastroenterology, KMC Hospital Manipal and performed a research study on the “Effects of Curcumin on Chronic Pancreatitis patients”. After obtaining his MD degree he joined the dept. of Pharmacology, KMC Manipal as Asst Professor. During this period he performed numerous clinical trials with Ranbaxy, one of India’s leading drug companies and with Acunova, a leading Clinical Research Organization of India. He also published five research articles in peer reviewed journals during this time. In 2009 he joined AUA as Associate Professor and has been teaching Cancer chemotherapy, Hematology, Central nervous system and Endocrine pharmacology to semester 3 and semester 4 students”.
Emil Adamec, MD, PhD – Professor
Sudhakar Pemminati, PhD – Associate Professor & Deputy Chair
Dr. Sudhakar Pemminati is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology. He earned his PhD in Medical Pharmacology at Kasturba Medical College (KMC), Manipal University, in India, where he studied the effects of APOC3, FABP2, and PPAR-gamma-2 gene polymorphisms on metabolic syndrome with type 2 diabetes mellitus in human subjects. Prior to earning his PhD, Dr. Sudhakar earned a MSc in Medical Pharmacology from Manipal University, a Pharm B from Andhra University, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Research (PDCR). Following his doctoral work, Dr. Sudhakar joined the Department of Pharmacology at KMC. He has been teaching Medical Pharmacology since 2000.
Dr. Sudhakar has extensive experience in the facilitation of Problem-Based and Team-Based Learning strategies in basic medical sciences. His expertise extends to individual interventions for the enhancement of critical thinking skills for medical problem-solving.
Dr. Sudhakar is a recipient of the Excellence in Scholarship Award for contributions to scientific literature, medicine, and education, awarded by the American University of Antigua (AUA) College of Medicine. Dr. Sudhakar is also the recipient of a number of other awards and honors: most notably, the Dr. TMA Pai Gold Medal for his research on an herbal treatment for haloperidol-induced catalepsy and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome.
He is a regular presenter at international scientific meetings, and most recently presented at conferences in Singapore, Canada, Malaysia, and Thailand. Dr. Sudhakar has authored or co-authored more than 54 peer-reviewed research articles, most of which are indexed by the National Library of Medicine’s authoritative PubMed database. He is an editor, editorial board member, and reviewer for many biomedical science journals, and has been invited to serve as an external examiner on numerous doctoral dissertation committees at academic institutions worldwide. Dr. Sudhakar is presently conducting two research projects, which have been approved by AUA College of Medicine, Antigua.
Nikhilesh Anand, MBBS, MD – Assistant Professor
Reza Sanii, PhD – Dean of Graduate Studies & Students Affairs, Professor & Chair /Pathophys.
Richard Millis, PhD – Professor
Dr. Millis authored or co-authored approximately 100 articles in peer-reviewed publications on various aspects of medical physiology and has co-edited four research reference books. Hismost recent research, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is to identify genetic and physiological markers for obesity in African-American adolescents. Has has authored a government report funded by the U.S. Army’s Surgeon General on the effects of nicotine and nicotine withdrawal that was instrumental in creating the first federal government smoke-free workplace by the Department of Defense. He was chief scientist for the development of the federal government’s first centralized database on medical aspects of protection against chemical and biological warfare agents and compiled the curriculum used to train physicians and allied health personnel on chemical casualty care for the first Persian Gulf War.
He is the recipient of a 2006 Teaching with Technology Award based on his extensive use of computer simulations for educational enhancement in teaching physiology to students in medical, dental and allied health sciences programs. Such educational enhancement was used to teach various medical review courses such as a workshop in Advanced Cardiac Life Support and in raising student performance on the United States Medical Licensure Step 1 Examination. He was a principal developer of an integrated basic and clinical science medical curriculum employing a collaborative active-learning model that uses medical residents and clinical fellows for presenting computer simulations of clinical cases.
Smriti Agnihotri, MBBS, MD – Professor/Assistant Chair
Dr. Smriti Agnihotri received her MD from Moti Lal Nehru Medical College, in Allahabad, India, in 2001, and her MBBS in 1995 from Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College, in Kanpur, India, in 1995. She also completed training in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education at the University of Mauritius in 2012. Dr. Smriti has been teaching pathology to medical graduates since 2002 including teaching at Manipal College of Medical Sciences in Nepal, and Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Medical College Medical College, in Mauritius. Dr. Smriti is a member of the Indian Medical Association, Indian Association of Pathologists and Microbiologists, and the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology. She has authored more than 25 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals over the course of her academic career, and has been teaching pathology at the American University of Antigua College of Medicine since July 2016.
Arun Agnihotri, MBBS – Professor
Predrag Vujovic, PhD – Associate Professor & Deputy Chair
Maxim Crasta, MSc, PhD – Associate Professor
Suneet Kumar, MBBS, MD, MBA – Associate Professor
Vinay H. Shankar, MBBS, MD – Associate Professor
Dr. Vinay H Shankar has an MBBS from Father Muller Medical College, Mangalore and an MD from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, India.
Brahmaiah-Chari K. R. MBBS, MD – Associate Professor
Deborah Dalmeida, MBBS, MD – Associate Professor
Indira Shastry, MBBS, MD – Assistant Professor
Merin Chandanathil, PhD – Assistant Professor
Ayoola Awosika, MD – Assistant Professor
Dr. Ayoola Awosika started his career as a Physiologist at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Nigeria where he earned his bachelor’s degree. He proceeded to earn his MD from All Saints University College of Medicine in Saint Vincent, where he was recognized as amongst the best graduating students in Basic Medical Sciences. Dr. Awosika also has an MBA, and is currently completing a master’s degree in Clinical Pharmacology at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. His research has included studying the effects of cola nitida on blood pressure.
Licensed by the Medical and Dental council of Nigeria to practice as a physician, Dr. Awosika is ECFMG certified, and worked as an ER physician until leaving to pursue a career in academia. His professional memberships include the Canadian Society of Internal Medicine, Physiological Society of London, and European Thyroid Association.
Prior to joining AUA College of Medicine, Dr. Awosika taught medical students at various medical schools in Physiology & Neurosciences, Pathology, Microbiology and USMLE Board review. He is highly knowledgeable in innovative teaching methods, and passionate about helping students achieve their full academic and professional goals.
Sabyasachi Maity, M.Sc. PhD – Assistant Professor
Drickesham Aska, MD – Instructor
My AUA
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REPORT: Former Ford employee arrested for stealing trade secrets
Chris Shunk
Oct 16th 2009 at 10:00AM
Former Ford engineer Xiang Dong Yu, also known as Mike Yu, was arrested Wednesday at the Chicago O'Hare airport and indicted on suspicion of stealing trade secrets from his former employer. Yu, who worked at Ford Motor Company from 1997 to 2007, is being charged with downloading over 4,000 sensitive documents to an external hard drive before leaving the automaker for an opportunity with another U.S. company's Chinese operations. Yu was nabbed while arriving in the U.S. from China where he was stationed.
The Free Press is reporting that Yu is being charged with stealing "system design specifications connected to engine and transmission mounting systems; outside rear view windows; sliding doors; steering wheel assembly; interior trim; wipers and washers systems; front/rear side door; instrument panel and console systems; sound and heat control and electric power systems."
Those sound like some serious charges, and if Yu is convicted he can do some even more serious time behind bars. Each count of the theft of trade secrets carries a 10 year term in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Yu is also charged with unauthorized access of a protected computer, which carries a five year term in the clink and a $250,000 fine. Detroit FBI Special Agent in Charge Andrew Arena told the Free Press that the Bureau takes the trade secrets of the auto industry very seriously, adding that "theft of trade secrets is a threat to national security and investigating allegations involving theft of trade secrets is a priority for the FBI."
Ford is understandably being silent right now in light of the seriousness of what's going on, and at this point we have no idea if any of Ford's important information fell into the hands of the wrong people. Since Yu is just now being brought to justice, it will likely be some time before all the details materialize. Regardless, it will be interesting to see if Yu shopped the illegal data and if there were any takers.
[Source: Free Press | Photo: U.S. Marshals Service]
License License
MSRP: $31,545 - $41,545
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Bhutan holidays
Trongsa is one of the most historic towns in Bhutan, small in size but grand in history. Trongsa also boasts an impressive museum. The watchtower of Trongsa has been converted into a museum dedicated to the Wangchuck dynasty and is a good place to learn about the history of the kingdom.
The imposing Trongsa Dzong, The Vanguard of the Warriorswas built in 1648 and is easily visible from anywhere in the town and is always an impressive sight as it is situated atop a steep ridge that drops off into the clouds on its south side.
The Dzongwas the seat of power over central and eastern Bhutan with both the first and second Kings ruling the country from this ancient seat. The Dzong is a massive structure with many levels, sloping down the contours of the ridge on which it is built. Because of the dzong’s highly strategic position, on the only connecting route between east and west, the Trongsa Penlop was able to control effectively the whole of the central and eastern regions of the country from here.
The Watchtower, which once guarded Trongsa Dzong from internal rebellion, stands on a promontory above the town is now a museum and has impressive views of the surrounding valley and countryside. Trongsa is well worth several hours of exploration.
Trongsa is very atmospheric but receives very few visitors due to the rustic, simple accommodation options.
The Raven Crown Resort4
ALL BHUTAN Hotels
Bumthang
Gangtey
Thimpu
Some of our Favourite Bhutan Lodges
Amankora Bumthang
Amankora Gangtey
Amankora Paro
Amankora Punakha
Amankora Thimpu
Uma Paro
Uma Punakha
Some of our favourite areas of Bhutan
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Socrates Program Menu
About Socrates
Program Scholarships
Madeleine K. Albright is a Chair of Albright Stonebridge Group and Chair of Albright Capital Management, an affiliated investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets. She was the 64th Secretary of State of the United States. Dr. Albright received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, from President Obama in 2012. In 1997, Dr. Albright was named the first female Secretary of State and became, at that time, the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government. As Secretary of State, Dr. Albright reinforced America’s alliances, advocated for democracy and human rights, and promoted American trade, business, labor and environmental standards abroad. From 1993 to 1997, Dr. Albright served as the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations and was a member of the President’s Cabinet. Prior to her service in the Clinton Administration, she served as President of the Center for National Policy, a member of President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Council and White House staff and served as Chief Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Edmund Muskie.
Dr. Albright is a Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She chairs both the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and the Pew Global Attitudes Project and serves as President of the Truman Scholarship Foundation. She is also on the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Policy Board, a group tasked with providing the Secretary of Defense with independent, informed advice and opinion concerning matters of defense policy. Dr. Albright also serves on the Boards of the Aspen Institute and the Center for American Progress. In 2009, Dr. Albright was asked by NATO Secretary General Anders Fog Rasmussen to Chair a Group of Experts focused on developing NATO’s New Strategic Concept. Dr. Albright is the author of five New York Times bestsellers: her autobiography, Madam Secretary: A Memoir (2003); The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs (2006); Memo to the President: How We Can Restore America’s Reputation and Leadership (2008); Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box (2009) and Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 (2012).
Dr. Albright earned a B.A. with honors from Wellesley College and holds Master’s and Doctorate degrees from Columbia University’s Department of Public Law and Government, as well as a Certificate from its Russian Institute. She is based in Washington, DC.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1969. The daughter of a political opponent of the Somali dictatorship, Ayaan Hirsi Ali grew up in exile, moving from Saudi Arabia to Ethiopia then Kenya. As a young child, she was subjected to female genital mutilation. As she grew up, she embraced Islam and strove to live as a devout Muslim. In 1992 Ayaan was married off by her father to a distant cousin who lived in Canada. In order to escape this marriage, she fled to the Netherlands where she was given asylum, and in time citizenship. In her early years in Holland she worked in factories and as a maid. She quickly learned Dutch, however, and was able to study at the University of Leiden. Working as a translator for Somali immigrants, she saw at first hand the inconsistencies between liberal, Western society and tribal, Muslim cultures. After earning her M.A. in political science, Ayaan worked as a researcher for the Wiardi Beckman Foundation in Amsterdam. She then served as an elected member of the Dutch parliament from 2003 to 2006. In 2004 Ayaan gained international attention following the murder of Theo van Gogh. Van Gogh had directed her short film Submission, a film about the oppression of women under Islam. The assassin, a radical Muslim, left a death threat for her pinned to Van Gogh’s chest. A visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC, Ayaan is currently researching the relationship between the West and Islam. Ayaan Hirsi Ali was named one of TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” of 2005, one of the Glamour Heroes of 2005 and Reader’s Digest‘s European of the Year for 2005. She has published a collection of essays, The Caged Virgin (2006), a memoir, Infidel (2007).
Named one of 15 Faith Leaders to Watch by the Center for American Progress, Reverend Jennifer Bailey is an ordained minister, public theologian, and national leader in multi-faith movement for justice based. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Faith Matters Network (FMN), a people of color led leadership incubator dedicated to catalyzing the voices of emerging justice-centered leaders of faith. Rev. Bailey is the Co-Founder of the People’s Supper, a project that aims to repair the breach in our interpersonal relationships across political, ideological, and identity difference over shared meals. Since January 20, 2017, the People’s Supper has hosted over 1,000 dinners in 121 cities and towns across the United States. Along the way we have teamed up with ordinary citizens, schools, workplaces, faith communities and neighborhood organizations to model what deep community building looks like in a time of deepening social divides.
Stephen Balkam has had a wide range of leadership roles in the nonprofit sector in the both the US and UK for the past 30 years. He is the Founder and CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), an international, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC. FOSI’s mission is to make the online world safer for kids and their families. FOSI convenes the top thinkers and practitioners in government, industry and the nonprofit sectors to collaborate and innovate and to create a “culture of responsibility” in the online world. Prior to FOSI, Stephen was the Founder and CEO of the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) and lead a team which developed the world’s leading content labeling system on the web. While with ICRA, Stephen served on the US Child Online Protection Commission (COPA) in 2000 and was named one of the Top 50 UK Movers and Shakers, Internet Magazine, 2001. In 1994, Stephen was named the first Executive Director of the Recreational Software Advisory Council (RSAC) which created a unique self-labeling system for computer games and then, in 1996, Stephen launched RSACi – a forerunner to the ICRA website labeling system. For his efforts in online safety, Stephen was given the 1998 Carl Bertelsmann Prize in Gutersloh, Germany, for innovation and responsibility in the Information Society and was invited to the first and subsequent White House Internet Summits during the Clinton Administration. Stephen’s other positions include the Executive Director of the National Stepfamily Association (UK); General Secretary of the Islington Voluntary Action Council; Executive Director of Camden Community Transport as well as management positions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (London) and Inter-Action. Stephen’s first job was with Burroughs Machines (now Unisys) and he had a spell working for West Nally Ltd – a sports sponsorship PR company. Stephen received a BA, magna cum laude, in Psychology from University College, Cardiff, Wales in 1977. A native of Washington, DC, Stephen spent many years in the UK and now has dual citizenship. He writes regularly for the Huffington Post, has appeared on nationally syndicated TV and radio programs such as MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC and has been interviewed by leading newspapers such as the Washington Post, New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, radio and in the mainstream press. He has given presentations and spoken in16 countries on 4 continents.
Bradley D. Belt is senior managing director of the Milken Institute, head of the Institute’s Washington office, and oversees the Center for Financial Market Understanding and related capital markets initiatives. Belt joins the Milken Institute from Palisades Capital, a boutique restructuring advisory and investment firm he co-founded. Prior to establishing Palisades, he served in the Bush administration as the executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. As the chief executive officer of the PBGC, Belt was responsible for the operations and management of a $50 billion investment portfolio. Under his leadership, PBGC restructured its operations, adopted a new liability-driven investment policy, implemented performance-based human capital management strategies, established new risk management and internal control systems, and oversaw the resolution of many of the agency’s largest and most complex financial settlements. Belt had been previously appointed by President Bush to the Social Security Advisory Board, and he helped shape and communicate administration policy on pension and retirement security issues. Belt has extensive executive management, operations, finance and policy experience in the private, public and non-profit sectors. His previous government service includes senior staff positions with the Securities Exchange Commission and the U.S. Senate, including as counsel to the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. In the private sector, he has been an executive of a financial services and technology company, and managing director of merchant banking and public affairs strategy firms. He also served as senior vice president of the bipartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies. Belt is chairman of Palisades Capital, as well as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation (the oversight board for Washington National Cathedral, and St. Albans, Cathedral, and Beauvoir schools), the Board of Directors of Zurich American Life Insurance Company, and the Advisory Board of Norfolk Markets. He is also a senior fellow with the McDonough School of Business (Georgetown). A frequent speaker and commentator on pensions, retirement finance, regulatory policy and corporate governance matters, Belt was named by SmartMoney as one of its “Power 30” in finance and by Workforce magazine as one of its “10 Most Forward-Thinking Leaders in Workforce Management.” An Eisenhower Fellow, Belt completed an executive management program at the Kennedy School at Harvard University, received his law degree from Georgetown and obtained his undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of Nebraska. He is a member of the New York, District of Columbia, and U.S. Supreme Court bars.
Jared Bernstein joined the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in May 2011 as a Senior Fellow. From 2009 to 2011, Bernstein was the Chief Economist and Economic Adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, executive director of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class, and a member of President Obama’s economic team. Bernstein’s areas of expertise include federal and state economic and fiscal policies, income inequality and mobility, trends in employment and earnings, international comparisons, and the analysis of financial and housing markets. Prior to joining the Obama administration, Bernstein was a senior economist and the director of the Living Standards Program at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Between 1995 and 1996, he held the post of deputy chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor. He is the author and coauthor of numerous books for both popular and academic audiences, including “Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed?” and nine editions of “The State of Working America.” Bernstein has published extensively in various venues, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, and Research in Economics and Statistics. He is an on-air commentator for the cable stations CNBC and MSNBC and hosts jaredbernsteinblog.com. Bernstein holds a PhD in Social Welfare from Columbia University.
Jennifer Bradley is the founding director of the Center for Urban Innovation at the Aspen Institute. The Center for Urban Innovation exists to bridge the gap between innovators and underserved neighborhoods, so that innovators focus more attention on community challenges and neighborhood residents can bring their own new ideas to life. Jennifer joined Aspen in 2015 after spending seven years as a fellow at the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program. While at Brookings, she co-authored The Metropolitan Revolution (Brookings Press, 2013) with Bruce Katz. The book, which was widely praised and cited, explains the critical role of metropolitan areas in the country’s economy, society, and politics. Jennifer has worked extensively on the challenges and opportunities of older industrial cities and has co-authored major economic turnaround strategies for Ohio and Michigan. She has also written for Newsweek, The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly, and Next American City. A former attorney, Jennifer co-authored Supreme Court amicus briefs in cases that affirmed the constitutional powers of local governments and secured greater environmental protections, including the landmark case, Massachusetts v. EPA. Jennifer has a J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, an MPhil from Oxford University, which she attended on a Rhodes Scholarship, and a B.A. from the University of Texas. She lives with her family in Washington, D.C.
Heidi Brooks is a Senior Lecturer in Organizational Behavior at Yale University School of Management. She specializes in leadership and community development for individuals, organizations, and larger systems. Her experience includes executive coaching and leadership development in Fortune 500 companies, academic institutions, family firms, and non-profit organizations. Since 2003, she has been on the faculty at the Yale School of Management, where she is the faculty director the Global Pre-MBA Leadership Program. Her courses include: Interpersonal Dynamics, Managing Teams and Groups, Leadership Development, Emotional Intelligence and Coaching Skills for Managers. In recent years, she spearheaded the original leadership development curriculum design and directed both the Leadership Development Program and the SOM Mentoring Program. Dr. Brooks has a PhD in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley and a BA from Brown University. When she is not with her family or on the tennis court, Heidi is usually engaged in building courageous leadership communities.
Catherine Brown is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence Policy and Coordination (IPC) in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) at the Department of State. She previously worked with INR on a range of issues while in the Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser, which she joined in 1985. She has extensive experience representing the Department in interagency and international forums. Immediately before assuming her current position, Ms. Brown was the Department’s Assistant Legal Adviser for Diplomatic Law and Litigation, focusing on legal issues relating to the status of diplomatic and consular officers, other foreign government officials, and international organizations. From 1991 until 2006, she was Assistant Legal Adviser for Consular Affairs, handling legal issues relating to visa and citizenship adjudication, passport issuance, consular protection of Americans abroad and foreign nationals in the United States, and border security programs instituted in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Ms. Brown represented the United States before the International Court of Justice in the Breard, LaGrand, and Avena cases brought by Paraguay, Germany, and Mexico over breaches of the consular notification requirements of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and participated in formulating the United States response to the Court’s decisions in those cases. She has also been involved in U.S. domestic litigation relating to consular notification requirements, and instituted the Department’s program to improve United States compliance with its consular notification obligations. During her State Department career, Ms. Brown has also worked in the areas of human rights and refugees; management; and Latin American affairs. She served as Deputy Agent for the United States for the merits phase of the Heathrow Airport User Charges Arbitration (United States v. United Kingdom), which resolved a US-UK dispute over landing fees imposed on U.S. airlines. She was Senior Adviser to the U.S. Refugee Coordinator from 1988-1989. As the Department’s Civil Service Ombudsman from 1993–1996, she helped develop career development opportunities for the Department’s civil service employees and participated in Department management reform efforts. Ms. Brown previously worked for the law firm of Covington & Burling of Washington, D.C. and served as a law clerk to Judge Levin Campbell of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in Boston, Massachusetts. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the Harvard Law School and author of Japanese Approaches to Equal Rights for Women: The Legal Framework, 12 LAW IN JAPAN 29 (1979) (based on her work as a Luce Scholar in Japan, 1976-1977) and of reviews of Denza’s Diplomatic Law (2d ed.1998), 94 AJIL 424 (2000), and Lee’s Consular Law and Practice (2d ed. 1991), 90 AJIL 178 (1996).
John Seely Brown is the Independent Co-Chairman of the Deloitte’s Center for the Edge and a visiting scholar and advisor to the Provost at University of Southern California (USC). Prior to that he was the Chief Scientist of Xerox Corporation and the director of its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)—a position he held for nearly two decades. While head of PARC, Brown expanded the role of corporate research to include such topics as the management of radical innovation, organizational learning, complex adaptive systems, and nano technologies. He was a cofounder of the Institute for Research on Learning (IRL). His personal research interests include digital youth culture, digital media and institutional innovation. John, or as he is often called—JSB— is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Education, a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence and of AAAS and a Trustee of the MacArthur Foundation. He serves on numerous public boards (Amazon, Corning, and Varian Medical Systems) and private boards of directors. He has published over 100 papers in scientific journals. With Paul Duguid he co-authored the acclaimed book The Social Life of Information (HBS Press, 2000) that has been translated into 9 languages with a second addition in April 2002. With John Hagel he co-authored the book The Only Sustainable Edge which is about new forms of collaborative innovation and The Power of Pull: how small moves, smartly made can set big things in motion, published April 2010. His current book, The New Culture of Learning co-authored with Professor Doug Thomas at USC, was released January 2011. JSB received a BA from Brown University in 1962 in mathematics and physics and a PhD from University of Michigan in 1970 in computer and communication sciences. He has received six honorary degrees including: May 2000, Brown University, Doctor of Science Degree; July 2001, the London Business School, Honorary Doctor of Science in Economics; May 2004, Claremont Graduate University, Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters; May 2005, University of Michigan, Honorary Doctor of Science Degree, and May 2009, North Carolina State University, Honorary Doctor of Science Degree, May 2011, Illinois Institute of Technology, Honorary Doctor of Design.
William D. Browning received a Bachelor of environmental design from the University of Colorado and a MS in real estate development from MIT. In 1991, Browning founded Rocky Mountain Institute’s Green Development Services, which was awarded the 1999 President’s Council for Sustainable Development/Renew America Prize. Browning’s clients include Wal-Mart’s Eco-mart, Starwood, Yellowstone National Park, Lucasfilm’s Letterman Digital Arts Center, New Songdo City, Bank of America’s One Bryant Park, the White House, and the Sydney 2000 Olympic Village. He coauthored Green Development: Integrating Ecology and Real Estate, Green Developments (CD-ROM), A Primer on Sustainable Building, and Greening the Building and the Bottom Line. Browning was named one of five people “Making a Difference” by Buildings magazine, and an Honorary member of the AIA. He was a founding member of US Green Building Council’s Board of Directors. In 2006 he became a principal in Terrapin Bright Green LLC, which crafts environmental strategies for corporations, government agencies and large-scale developments. He served on the DoD Defense Science Board Energy Task Force.
Mark Brownstein is Chief Counsel of the Energy Program at Environmental Defense Fund. Mark specializes in utility-related issues, including transmission development, wholesale and retail electric market design, rate reform, and power plant siting and investment. Mark leads EDF’s team on coal and natural gas. Mark is also adjunct Professor of Energy Policy at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. Mark was one of two EDF staff leads on the United States Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of the nation’s leading corporations and environmental groups championing immediate action on federal legislation to cap and substantially reduce greenhouse gas pollution across the US economy. He is co-author of the Carbon Principles, a set of enhanced due diligence principles for investment banks considering the financing of coal fired power plants. Prior to joining Environmental Defense Fund, Mark was Director of Enterprise Strategy for Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), where he worked directly with PSEG’s senior leadership in crafting and implementing the corporation’s business strategy. Over his nearly ten year career with PSEG, Mark served the company in a variety of environmental management roles, including Director of Environmental Strategy and Policy. Mark was active in numerous environmental legislative and regulatory proceedings including efforts to develop federal legislation limiting emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and carbon dioxide from power plants, and the Environmental Council of States’ (ECOS) 37-state Ozone Transport Assessment Group (OTAG) process, which developed specific recommendations to address the persistent problem of ozone transport in the eastern United States. Mark was also an active member of the US EPA’s Clean Air Act Advisory Committee and New Jersey’s Renewable Energy Task Force. Aside from PSEG, Mark’s career includes time as an attorney in private environmental practice, a regulator with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and an aide to then-Congressman Robert G. Torricelli (D–NJ).
Aneesh Chopra is the former United States Chief Technology Officer. As an assistant to the President, he designed the National Wireless Initiative, helped launch Startup America, and executed an “open innovation” strategy across the government built on private sector collaboration–opening up data, convening on standards, and staffing “lean government startups.” Chopra previously served as Virginia’s Secretary of Technology and has returned as a senior advisor with The Advisory Board Company, a global research, consulting, and technology firm helping hospital executives to better serve patients, where he previously served as managing director. In 2011, Chopra was named to Modern Healthcare’s list of the “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” (#39) and in 2008, to Government Technology magazine’s top 25 in their “Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers” issue. He earned his master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University and his bachelor’s degree from The Johns Hopkins University. Chopra is the author of the forthcoming book, “Innovative State: How New Technologies can Transform Government” focused on how we can tap entrepreneurial problem solvers to address challenges in health, energy and education markets.
John Henry Clippinger is a co-founder of The Token Commons Foundation and Swythc.io. He is currently Research Scientist at the MIT Media Lab City Sciences Group, and previously a Research Scientist with the Human Dynamics Group. He is an Advisor to Bancor, Evident, Decentralized Pictures, Atonomi, SkyCoin, Cashaa, and the CryptoAsset Design Group. Previously, he was CEO of ID3 (The Institute for Data Driven Design) and Co-Director of The Law Lab at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard Law School.
Dr. Clippinger is a contributor and co-editor From Bitcoin to Burning Man and Beyond; The Quest for Identity and Autonomy in Digital Society, (2014), the author of A Crowd of One: The Future of Individual Identity (Perseus, Public Affairs, 2007, and The Biology of Business, Natural Laws of Enterprise Josey Bass, 1998). Previously, he was Director of Intellectual Capital, Coopers & Lybrand, advisor to DOD CCRP (Command and Control Research Program (CCRP), DARPA, and the founder of four artificial intelligence software companies. He has been a member of the World Economic Forum Global Advisory Council, Santa Fe Institute, Aspen Institute, Highlands Forum, Yale CEO Summit, Dubai Futures Forum, Aspen Italia, TII/Vanguard, and others.
Dr. Clippinger is a graduate of Yale University and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Jay Coen Gilbert is a co-founder of B Lab, a nonprofit organization that serves a global movement of people using business as a force for good. Its vision is that one day all companies compete not only to be the best in the world, but the Best for the World® and as a result society will enjoy a more shared and durable prosperity. Prior to B Lab, Jay co-founded and sold AND 1, a $250M basketball footwear and apparel company based outside Philadelphia. Jay led AND 1’s product and marketing for most of his 13 years there and was AND 1’s CEO during its period of most rapid growth.
Jay is on the board of Investors’ Circle, an organization dedicated to the acceleration of patient capital markets for a sustainable future. Since 1992, Investors’ Circle’s core activity has been the Investors’ Circle Network, a national network of angel investors, venture capital funds, foundations, and others that has facilitated the flow of over $111 million into 182 companies and venture funds addressing social and environmental challenges.
Jay is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a Board member of the Philadelphia chapters of KIPP, a national public charter middle school, and Monteverde Friends, U.S.
Jay grew up in New York City before heading west to Stanford University, graduating with a degree in East Asian Studies in 1989. Prior to AND 1, Jay worked for McKinsey & Co and several organizations in NYC’s public and non-profit sectors.
Between AND 1 and B Lab, Jay enjoyed a sabbatical Down Under and in Monteverde, Costa Rica with his yogini wife Randi and their two children, Dex, 14, and Ria, 12. They live in Berwyn, PA.
Stephen Cohen joined the Brookings Institution as Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies in 1998 after a career as a professor of Political Science and History at the University of Illinois. In 2004 he was named by the World Affairs Councils of America as one of America’s five hundred most influential people in the area of foreign policy. Dr. Cohen is the author, co-author or editor of over twelve books, mostly on South Asian security issues, the most recent being Four Crises and a Peace Process: American Engagement in South Asia (2007) and The Idea of Pakistan (2004), and an edited volume published by the National Academy of Science that explores the application of technology to the prediction, prevention or amelioration of terrorist acts. A book on the future of the Indian military is now in progress. In early 2008 Dr. Cohen was Visiting Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, where he taught a course on the politics of manmade and natural disaster. In Asia he has also taught in Japan (Keio University) and India (Andhra University). He has consulted for numerous foundations and government agencies and was a member of the Policy Planning Staff (Department of State) from 1985-87. Dr. Cohen is currently a member of the National Academy of Science’s Committee on International Security and Arms Control, and was the founder of several arms control and security-related institutions in the U.S. and South Asia. He received undergraduate and graduate education at the University of Chicago, and the PhD in Political Science and Indian Studies from the University of Wisconsin.
Terry Cooke founded the China Partnership of Greater Philadelphia in 2011 as a 501c3 public-private platform to accelerate commercial and research collaboration between the Greater Philadelphia region and China in clean energy and energy-efficient buildings. In July 2014, the China Partnership of Greater Philadelphia’s work with Tianjin was one of six collaborations awarded U.S.-China EcoPartnership status by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and China’s State Councilor Jiechi Yang at the annual high-level U.S.-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue talks. He is also a Distinguished Resident Senior Scholar at the Fox Leadership Program of the University of Pennsylvania.
Terry was a 2010 Public Policy Scholar with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C., researching the U.S.-China clean energy relationship, particularly the interface of technology, policy and investment. His book Sustaining U.S.- China Cooperation in Clean Energy was published and launched by the Wilson’s Center’s Kissinger Institute in September 2012.
Terry is a frequent speaker at corporate and investor events such as The International Conference on Green Energy, The BusinessWeek Global Green Business Summit China, and the New York Cleantech Investors Forum. He publishes frequently for the Foreign Policy Research Institute, the Brookings Institution, China Brief and other publications.
Previously from 2006-8, Terry served as Director for Asian Corporate Partnership at the World Economic Forum, the host of the Davos Annual Meeting and the ‘Summer Davos’ in China. In 2003, Terry retired with the rank of Counselor as a career-member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Commercial Service. During his fifteen year career, Terry served as the U.S. Government’s senior commercial officer in Taipei and Berlin, as the deputy senior commercial officer in Tokyo and as commercial officer in Shanghai.
Terry received his Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1985, his MA from UCB in 1981 and his BA from Princeton University in 1976. He speaks Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, French, German and limited Hindi/Nepali.
Terry serves as a board director for the Global Interdependence Center (www.interdependence.org) and as a member of the Global Advisory Committee of The Philadelphia Orchestra.
Dr. Margaret E. Crahan is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion and Senior Research Scholar at the Institute for Latin American studies at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University. She received her doctorate from Columbia in history. Until September 2009 she was the Kozmetsky Distinguished Professor and Director of the Kozmetsky Center of Excellence in Global Finance at St. Edward’s University. From 1982-1994 she was the Henry R. Luce Professor of Religion, Power and Political Process at Occidental College and from 1994-2008 the Dorothy Epstein Professor at Hunter College and Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Dr. Crahan has also held the Marous Professorship at the University of Pittsburgh (1993-94) and the Will and Ariel Durant Chair at St. Peter’s University (1988-89). She is a member of the Board of Trustees of St. Edward’s University and Vice President of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights. She was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on Latin America, 2006-08. She has participated in international missions to Bolivia, Chile, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. She has also visited Cuba some fifty times since 1973 for research. Dr. Crahan has published over one hundred articles and books including Human Rights and Basic Needs in the Americas; Religion, Culture and Society: The Case of Cuba; and The Wars on Terrorism and Iraq: Human Rights, Unilateralism, and US Foreign Policy (with Thomas G. Weiss and John Goering).
Clive Crook is Columnist and Member of the Editorial Board at Bloomberg View. A former Washington commentator of the Financial Times, he previously worked at the Economist and as a senior editor at the Atlantic. Crook was born in Yorkshire, and educated at Bolton School; Magdalen College, Oxford (where he was a foundation scholar); and the Government Economic Service. Crook worked for 20 years at the Economist, variously serving as economics correspondent, Washington correspondent, economics editor and deputy editor.
Kevin Davis: Baltimore, Md., July 8, 2015 – Today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake named Kevin Davis as the Interim Police Commissioner. As the former Chief of the Anne Arundel County Police Department, he was appointed to the position of Deputy Police Commissioner seven-months ago, overseeing the Investigations and Intelligence Bureau. Interim Commissioner Davis is a native of Maryland, born and raised in College Park. He comes from a family with a history of policing in Maryland and he continued that legacy when he began his career with the Prince George’s County Police Department. As a Deputy Chief in Prince George’s County, Interim Commissioner Davis oversaw the Bureau of Investigations. His leadership resulted in an increase in clearance rates ensuring violent criminals were taken off the streets. Interim Commissioner Davis rose through the ranks to become the Assistant Chief of the Prince George’s County Police Department. This role led to extensive experience working with consent decrees; creating a solid foundation of Constitutional Policing. Additionally, the Interim Commissioner has a long history of working with residents, truly embodying the concepts of community policing. His experience in Prince George’s County made him uniquely qualified for the position overseeing the Baltimore Police Department’s Investigations and Intelligence Bureau. As the Chief of the Anne Arundel County Police Department, he made tremendous inroads in connecting with the community and building strong relationships with residents. He has continued that role in Baltimore, meeting with community groups and working to build strong relationships with the citizens of this city. Interim Commissioner Davis is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the FBI National Executive Institute. He earned his Master’s Degree from Johns Hopkins University. He is married to his wife, Lisa, and has four children.
Susan Dentzer is the Editor-in-Chief of Health Affairs, the nation’s leading peer-reviewed journal focused on the intersection of health, health care and health policy in the United States and internationally. One of the nation’s most respected health and health policy journalists, she is an on-air analyst on health issues with the PBS NewsHour, and a frequent guest and commentator on such National Public Radio shows as This American Life and The Diane Rehm Show. Susan is also an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and the Council on Foreign Relations. At Health Affairs, Susan oversees the journal’s team of nearly 30 editors and other staff in producing the monthly publication and web site. Health Affairs has been described by the Washington Post as the “Bible” of health policy. Its articles and their authors ars frequently cited in the Congressional Record and in congressional testimony as well as in the news media. The Health Affairs web site recorded 21.5 million page views in 2009. Before joining Health Affairs in May 2009, Susan was on-air Health Correspondent at the PBS NewsHour. From 1998 to 2008, she led the show’s unit providing in-depth coverage of health care, health policy and Social Security. Prior to joining the PBS NewsHour, she was chief economics correspondent and economics columnist for U.S. News & World Report, and previously was a senior writer covering business and economic news at Newsweek. Susan’s other work in television has included appearances as a regular analyst or commentator on CNN and The McLaughlin Group. Her writing has also earned her several fellowships, including a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, where she studied health economics and policy, and a U.S.-Japan Leadership Program Fellowship, during which she researched the effects of the rapidly aging Japanese population. Susan is an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization made up of the nation’s leading experts on social insurance, is a fellow of the Hastings Center, a nonpartisan research institution dedicated to bioethics and the public interest. Susan chairs the Board of Directors of the Global Health Council, the largest membership organization of groups involved in global health, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian organization providing relief to refugees and displaced persons around the world. She chairs the IRC board’s Health Committee, which oversees that organization’s health-related activities in roughly 25 countries. A graduate of Dartmouth and holder of an honorary master of arts from the institution, Susan is a Dartmouth trustee emerita and chaired the Dartmouth Board of Trustees from 2001 to 2004. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Overseers of Dartmouth Medical School.
Esther Dyson (@edyson on twitter) is chairman of EDventure Holdings and founder of HICCup.co, for Health Initiative Coordinating Council, an open-source initiative devoted to defining and testing a business model for investing in health (not health care). Her primary activity is investing in and nurturing start-ups, with a recent focus on health care and aerospace. She recently served on the selection panel for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Young Leader Awards and is active on the “health not healthcare” speaker circuit and from October 2008 to March of 2009, Dyson lived in Star City outside Moscow, Russia, training as a backup cosmonaut. Dyson sits on the boards of several nonprofits, including the Eurasia Foundation, the Sunlight Foundation, the Personal Genome Foundation, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation and StopBadware.org. She has a BA in economics from Harvard and was founding chairman of ICANN from 1998 to 2000. In 1997 Dyson wrote the best-selling, widely translated book Release 2.0: A Design for Living in the Digital Age, published by Broadway Books.
Mona Eltahawy is an award-winning columnist and an international public speaker on Arab and Muslim issues. She is based in New York. Her opinion pieces have been published frequently in The Washington Post and the International Herald Tribune and her columns appear in several other publications across the world. She is a frequent media guest analyst. During the 18-day revolution that toppled Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, she appeared on most major media outlets, leading the feminist website Jezebel to describe her as “The Woman Explaining Egypt to the West”. Newsweek magazine said she was “in demand as a fresh, female counterweight to all the white-bearded professorial types.” Before she moved to the U.S. in 2000, Mona was a news reporter in the Middle East for many years, including in Cairo and Jerusalem as a Reuters correspondent and she reported for various media from Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Libya, Syria, Saudi Arabia and China. Ms Eltahawy was the first Egyptian journalist to live and to work for a western news agency in Israel. Her public speaking has taken her around the world, including to the first TEDWomen where she spoke about the virtues of confusion in breaking stereotypes of Muslim women. In 2010 the Anna Lindh Foundation awarded her its Special Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism and the Estlow International Center for Journalism and New Media at the University of Denver gave her its Anvil of Freedom Award. In 2009, the European Union awarded her its Samir Kassir Prize for Freedom of the Press for her opinion writing and Search for Common Ground named her a winner of its Eliav-Sartawi Award for Middle Eastern Journalism. Mona is a lecturer and researcher on the growing importance of social media in the Arab world. She has taught as an adjunct at the New School in New York, the University of Oklahoma and the U.N.-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica. Mona was born in Port Said, Egypt and has lived in the U.K, Saudi Arabia and Israel. She calls herself a proud liberal Muslim. In 2005, she was named a Muslim Leader of Tomorrow by the American Society for Muslim Advancement and she is a member of the Communications Advisory Group for Musawah, the global movement for justice and equality in the Muslim family.
Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, the Chair of the Department of Bioethics at the NIH, is currently the Special Advisor on Health Policy at the White House Office of Management and Budget. He is also a breast oncologist and author. For 10 years, Dr. Emanuel has worked on global health, especially related to malaria and HIV/AIDS. He has trained researchers in developing countries on the ethics of clinical research and conducted numerous studies of ethical issues related to research in developing countries. At OMB, Dr. Emanuel has helped develop President Obama’s Global Health Initiative. He has written 3 books and co-authored 4. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science and the Association of American Physicians. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Malaria Vision Award from Malaria No More, and the President’s Medal for Social Justice from Roosevelt University.
James Fallows is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and has written for the magazine since the late 1970s. He has reported extensively from outside the United States and once worked as President Carter’s chief speechwriter. Fallows has written ten books, including Blind into Baghdad, Postcards from Tomorrow Square, Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy, and, most recently, China Airborne: The Test of China’s Future. He has won the National Magazine Award, the American Book Award, and a New York Emmy for a documentary series on China. Fallows has done regular commentary for NPR since the 1980s.
Dr. Evelyn Farkas is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, and CNA and a National Security Analyst for NBC/MSNBC. She served from 2012 to 2015 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia/Ukraine/Eurasia, responsible for policy towards Russia, the Black Sea, Balkans and Caucasus regions and conventional arms control. From 2010 to 2012 she served as Senior Advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Special Advisor to the Secretary of Defense for the NATO Summit. Prior to that, she was a senior fellow at the American Security Project, and Executive Director of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism.
From April 2001 to April 2008, she served as a Professional Staff Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Asia Pacific, Western Hemisphere, Special Operations Command, peace and stability operations, combatting terrorism, counternarcotics, homeland defense, and export control policy.From 1997-2001 Farkas was a professor of international relations at the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College. She served in Bosnia with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 1996-1997, and was an election observer in Afghanistan in 2009. She has published numerous journal articles and opinion pieces and “Fractured States and U.S. Foreign Policy: Iraq, Ethiopia, and Bosnia in the 1990s” (Palgrave/St. Martin’s Press, 2003, 2008). She speaks Hungarian and German, has studied French, Spanish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, and Hindi. Dr. Farkas obtained her MA and Ph.D. from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is a member of the board of trustees of Franklin & Marshall College and Aspen Institute Socrates Seminar, and Harold Rosenthal Fellowship advisory boards. She has received several Department of Defense and foreign awards and an honorary doctorate from Franklin & Marshall College.Twitter: @EvelynNFarkas
Niall Ferguson, MA, D.Phil., is Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at Jesus College, Oxford University, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Born in Glasgow in 1964, he was a Demy at Magdalen College and graduated with First Class Honours in 1985. After two years as a Hanseatic Scholar in Hamburg and Berlin, he took up a Research Fellowship at Christ’s College, Cambridge, in 1989, subsequently moving to a Lectureship at Peterhouse. He returned to Oxford in 1992 to become Fellow and Tutor in Modern History at Jesus College, a post he held until 2000, when he was appointed Professor of Political and Financial History at Oxford. Two years later he left for the United States to take up the Herzog Chair in Financial History at the Stern Business School, New York University, before moving to Harvard in 2004. His first book, Paper and Iron: Hamburg Business and German Politics in the Era of Inflation 1897-1927 (Cambridge University Press, 1995), was short-listed for the History Today Book of the Year award, while the collection of essays he edited, Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals (Macmillan, 1997), was a UK bestseller and subsequently published in the United States, Germany, Spain and elsewhere. In 1998 he published to international critical acclaim The Pity of War: Explaining World War One (Basic Books) and The World’s Banker: The History of the House of Rothschild (Penguin). The latter won the Wadsworth Prize for Business History and was also short-listed for the Jewish Quarterly/Wingate Literary Award and the American National Jewish Book Award. In 2001 he published The Cash Nexus: Money and Power in the Modern World, 1700-2000 (Basic), following a year as Houblon-Norman Fellow at the Bank of England. He is a regular contributor to television and radio on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2003 he wrote and presented a six-part history of the British Empire for Channel 4, the UK terrestrial broadcaster. The accompanying book, Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power (Basic), was a bestseller in both Britain and the United States. The sequel, Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire, was published in 2004 by Penguin. Two years later he published The War of the World: Twentieth Century Conflict and the Descent of the West, which was also a PBS series. His most recent book is the best-selling Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World (Penguin, 2008). It aired on PBS this year. He has just completed a biography of the banker Siegmund Warburg and is now working on the life of Henry Kissinger. A prolific commentator on contemporary politics and economics, Niall Ferguson writes and reviews regularly for the British and American press. He is a contributing editor for the Financial Times and a regular contributor to Newsweek. In 2004 Time magazine named him as one of the world’s hundred most influential people.
Charles Firestone is Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program and a Vice President of the Aspen Institute. Since his appointment in December 1989, this program has focused on the impact of new technologies on democratic, economic and social institutions, the development of new communications policy models and options for the public interest, and the implications of communications and information technologies for leadership. For three years he was also the Institute’s Executive Vice President for Policy Programs and International Activities.
Prior to his positions with the Aspen Institute, Firestone was Director of the Communications Law Program at the University of California at Los Angeles and Adjunct Professor of Law at the UCLA Law School, 1977-90. He was also the first President of the Los Angeles Board of Telecommunications Commissioners, which advises the Mayor and City Council on all regulatory matters relating to the cable and telecommunications fields.
Firestone’s legal career includes positions as an attorney at the Federal Communications Commission, as director of litigation for a Washington, D.C. public interest law firm, and as a communications and entertainment attorney in Los Angeles. He has argued two cases before the United States Supreme Court and many others before the U.S. federal appellate courts.
Firestone holds degrees from Amherst College and Duke University Law School. He is the editor, author or co-author of numerous articles on communications law and policy. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a GLOCOM Fellow of the Japanese Institute of Global Communications in Tokyo, Japan, and was a Visiting Professor at the Duke University Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy in 2003.
He resides with his wife, sculptor Pattie Porter Firestone, in Santa Barbara, California.
AO Forbes works currently at Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS) in Carbondale. He teaches high school geography. Forbes has served on numerous committees at CRMS, coached soccer, led trips, been a dorm parent, served as liaison between staff and school trustees and chaired the history department. He was awarded the Governor’s Award for Excellence, and earned Teacher of the Year from Phi Delta Kappa in 1985. Since 2000, Tomorrow’s Voices has been Forbes most driving extracurricular purpose.
Thomas Friedman, a world is an internationally renowned author, reporter, and columnist; recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes; and author of six best-selling books: From Beirut to Jerusalem; The Lexus and the Olive Tree; Longitudes and Attitudes; The World Is Flat; Hot, Flat, and Crowded; and That Used to Be Us, which he co-wrote with Michael Mandelbaum. Friedman’s foreign affairs column in The New York Times, which he has written since 1995, reports on US domestic politics and foreign policy, Middle East conflicts, international economics, environment, biodiversity, and energy. He has been with The New York Times since 1981.
Julius Genachowski is a managing director and partner at The Carlyle Group in the US Buyout team, focusing on investments in global technology, media and telecom. He served as chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission from 2009 to 2013, during which time the agency was named the most improved in federal government and one of Wired’s Top 7 Disruptions. Genachowski was previously chief of business operations at IAC/InterActiveCorp. He worked on Harvard Law Review with President Barack Obama, whom he has long advised on tech issues. Genachowski serves on the boards of MasterCard, Sonos, and Syniverse.
Elliot Gerson is responsible for the Aspen Institute Policy Programs, its Public Programs and its relations with its international partners. The Institute’s Policy Programs focus on many of the most important issues in domestic and international affairs, as well as in topics in art, culture and science. They seek to improve decision-making by providing neutral venues, nonpartisan analysis and candid dialogue among leaders. The Institute’s Public Programs open the Institute’s doors to a broader audience of influential citizens, and include the Aspen Ideas Festival and several more specialized forums. These occur primarily on the Institute’s Aspen and Chesapeake Bay campuses, in Washington, at the Roosevelt House in New York City, and occasionally in other cities and overseas. Aspen has international partners in France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Romania and Spain. Elliot is a graduate of Harvard, Oxford and Yale Law School. He was a U.S. Supreme Court clerk and has had a career including the practice of law, executive positions in state and federal government and a presidential campaign, president of leading insurance and healthcare companies, executive experience in two internet start-ups, and service on many non-profit boards, especially in the arts and humanities. Also, as American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust, he manages the U.S. Rhodes Scholarships. He is married to Dr. Jessica Herzstein. They have seven children and live in Washington and Aspen. Dr. Herzstein, a physician educated at Harvard and Yale, is global medical director of an international chemical company, a consultant in environmental and occupational medicine, and a member of the U.S. medical/scientific task force that sets standards for preventive health measures, including screening for cancer.
Justin Gest is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government. His teaching and research interests include comparative politics, immigration, and demographic change.
His first book, Apart: Alienated and Engaged Muslims in the West (Oxford University Press/Hurst, 2010), studied Muslim political behavior in Western democracies. This research explored the origins of extremism and civic engagement among a stigmatized community of citizens.
His second book, The New Minority: White Working Class Politics in an Age of Immigration and Inequality (Oxford University Press, 2016), examines the complicated marginality of white working class people in the United States and Britain, where they have been the backbone of movements to elect Donald Trump and leave the European Union.
His third book, The White Working Class: What Everyone Needs To Know, provides an essential overview of political, sociological, psychological and economic research on the politics of white working class people in the United States and Britain.
His fourth book, Crossroads: Comparative Immigration Regimes in a World of Demographic Change (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2018), is co-authored with Anna Boucher. This work presents a systematic, comprehensive, and demographic data-driven taxonomy of migration regimes across 30 countries. It explores the question of what drives convergence and variation in immigration policy worldwide.
His research has been published in journals including Citizenship Studies, Comparative Political Studies, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Global Governance, Global Policy, the International Migration Review, Migration Studies, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Review of Middle East Studies. He has also published commentary, analysis or contributed reporting to a number of newspapers including The Boston Globe, The Guardian, the Houston Chronicle, The Hill, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Politico, Reuters, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Times, and The Washington Post.
From 2010 to 2014, Professor Gest was a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer in Harvard University’s Departments of Government and Sociology. In 2014, he received the Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize, Harvard’s highest award for teaching. In 2013, he received the 2013 Star Family Prize for Student Advising, Harvard’s highest award for student advising. From 2007 to 2010, while a doctoral student, he co-founded and served as the co-director of the Migration Studies Unit at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
He is a product of Los Angeles Unified School District’s University High School in West Los Angeles, where he grew up. He later earned his bachelor’s degree in Government at Harvard University and his PhD in Government from the LSE.
Dan Glickman is the Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Congressional Program, a nongovernmental, nonpartisan educational program for members of the United States Congress. The program provides lawmakers with a stronger grasp of critical public policy issues by convening high-level conferences and breakfast meetings in which legislators are brought together with internationally-recognized academics, experts and leaders to study the issues and explore various policy alternatives. He served as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from March 1995 until January 2001. Under his leadership, the Department administered farm and conservation programs; modernized food safety regulations; forged international trade agreements to expand U.S. markets; and improved its commitment to fairness and equality in civil rights. Before his appointment as Secretary of Agriculture, Glickman served for 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the 4th Congressional District of Kansas. During that time, he was a member of the House Agriculture Committee, including six years as chairman of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over federal farm policy issues. Moreover, he was an active member of the House Judiciary Committee; chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; and was a leading congressional expert on general aviation policy. Glickman served as Chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) from 2004 until 2010.
Seth Goldman is co-founder, President and TeaEO of Honest Tea, the company he co-founded in 1998 with Professor Barry Nalebuff of the Yale School of Management. Over the past fourteen years the company has thrived as consumers have shifted toward healthier and more sustainable diets. In March 2011, Honest Tea was acquired by The Coca-Cola Company, helping to further the reach and impact of Honest Tea’s mission by becoming the first organic and Fair Trade brand in the world’s largest beverage distribution system. An entrepreneur at heart, Seth started with lemonade stands and newspaper routes as a kid, created a non-profit urban service program, and nearly pursued a prize-winning biotechnology idea before he started Honest Tea in his kitchen. Since then, the company has initiated community-based partnerships with suppliers in India, Chinaand South Africa, and has created marketing partnerships with the Arbor Day Foundation, City Year, and RecycleBank. In addition to being named one of The Better World Shopping Guide’s “Ten Best Companies on the Planet based on their overall social and environmental record,” Honest Tea was also listed as one of PlanetGreen.com’s “Top 7 Green Corporations of 2010.” In 2010, The Huffington Post ranked Honest Tea as one of the leading “8 Revolutionary Socially Responsible Companies.” In 2008, Seth co-founded Bethesda Green, a local sustainability initiative in Honest Tea’s hometown. In its first year, the initiative helped area restaurants convert their grease waste into biodiesel, and collected over 200,000 lbs of electronic waste. Bethesda Green hosts Maryland’s first green business incubator, with fourteen start-ups currently in residence. Seth serves on the boards of Bethesda Green, Happy Baby, The Calvert Foundation, the American Beverage Association, Repair the World, and sits on the Advisory Board of Net Impact. In 2011, Seth was appointed by Governor Martin O’Malley to the Maryland Economic Development Commission. Before launching Honest Tea, Seth worked at Calvert Group, managing the marketing and sales efforts for the nation’s largest family of socially responsible mutual funds. His previous work includes directing an AmeriCorps demonstration project inBaltimoreand serving as Senator Lloyd Bentsen’s Deputy Press Secretary. He has also worked in Beijing and Moscow. He is a graduate of Harvard College(1987) and the Yale School of Management (1995), and holds an honorary Doctorate of Laws from American University. In 2009, Seth was the recipient of Net Impact’s Member Achievement Award. He is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute.
Jack Goldstone is Hazel Professor of Public Policy and a Fellow of the Mercatus Center of George Mason University. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has won major prizes from the American Sociological Association and the Historical Society for his research on revolutions and social change, and has won grants from the MacArthur Foundation, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and the National Science Foundation. He recently led a National Academy of Sciences study of USAID democracy assistance, and worked with USAID, DIFD, and the US State and Defense Departments on developing their operations in fragile states. Goldstone’s current research focuses on conditions for building democracy and stability in developing nations, the impact of population change on the global economy and international security, and the cultural origins of modern economic growth. His recent essay in Foreign Affairs, “The New Population Bomb” has received world-wide attention. Goldstone has authored or edited ten books and published over one hundred articles in books and scholarly journals. His latest books are Why Europe? The Rise of the West 1500-1850 (McGraw-Hill, 2008), and Political Demography: Identities, Change, and Conflict (Paradigm, forthcoming).
Richard Gray serves as director of AISR’s Community Organizing & Engagement team. His work includes providing strategic support on community organizing and engagement to community and school reform organizations in cities across the country. He also directs AISR’s Center for Education Organizing, which helps expand the power of education organizing through building strategic alliances among organizations and with strategic partners such as teachers’ unions, reform support organizations, civil rights organizations, and research and policy institutes. Previously, he was director of national technical assistance with the Community Involvement Program at New York University’s Institute for Education and Social Policy (IESP), where he assisted community groups in New York City and across the country in developing strategies to improve local schools and shape more effective and equitable education policies. He was also co-executive director of the National Coalition of Advocates for Students (NCAS), a nationwide network of child advocacy organizations that work to improve the access of quality public education to student populations who have traditionally been underserved by public schools. Richard received a BA in History from Brown University and a JD from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley.
Lani Guinier is the Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She became the first woman of color appointed to a tenured professorship at the Harvard Law School. Before her Harvard appointment, she was a tenured professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she had been on the faculty for ten years. Professor Guinier worked in the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice and then headed the voting rights project at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in the 1980s. Professor Guinier has published many scholarly articles and books that are accessible to a more general audience, including The Tyranny of the Majority (1994); Becoming Gentlemen: Women, Law School and Institutional Change (1997) (with co-authors Michelle Fine and Jane Balin); Lift Every Voice: Turning a Civil Rights Setback into a New Vision of Social Justice (1998); The Miner’s Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy (2002) (co-authored with Gerald Torres). Professor Lani Guinier has written a new book, The Tyranny of the Meritocracy: Democratizing Higher Education in America (forthcoming Beacon Press 2015. In her scholarly writings and in op-ed pieces, she has addressed issues of race, gender, and democratic decision-making, and sought new ways of approaching questions like affirmative action while calling for candid public discourse on these topics. Professor Guinier’s leadership on these important issues has been recognized with many awards and by ten honorary degrees, including from Smith College, Spelman College, Swarthmore College and the University of the District of Columbia. Her excellence in teaching was honored by the 1994 Harvey Levin Teaching Award from the graduating class at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the 2002 Sacks-Freund Award for Teaching Excellence from Harvard Law School.
Leigh Hafrey is Senior Lecturer in Behavioral and Policy Sciences at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Since 1995, he has offered courses in communication, ethics, and leadership in the MBA and other graduate programs in the U.S. and abroad. He has also taught at Harvard Business School; served as co-Master of Mather House, one of the undergraduate residences in Harvard College; and for more than 20 years has moderated seminars in programs of the Aspen Institute. He serves on the boards of the Green Rural Opportunities Fund, a spin-off of the Butajira, Ethiopia-based GreenPath Food, and ClassACT HR73, an alumni initiative of the Harvard-Radcliffe Class of 1973. A former staff editor at The New York Times Book Review, Hafrey has published translations from French and German and columns, feature articles, essays, reviews, and interviews in The New York Times and other periodicals, as well as blog posts and business case studies for MIT Sloan. He is the author of two books on values and leadership, The Story of Success: Five Steps to Mastering Ethics in Business (2005) and War Stories: Fighting, Competing, Imagining, Leading (2016).
As a reporter who was the first Latina in many newsrooms, Maria Hinojosa dreamt of a space where she could create independent, multimedia journalism that explores and gives a critical voice to the diverse American experience. To that end, in 2010, she created the Futuro Media Group, an independent nonprofit organization based in Harlem, NYC with the mission to create multimedia content for and about the new American mainstream in the service of empowering people to navigate the complexities of an increasingly diverse and connected world. As the Anchor and Executive Producer of the Peabody Award winning show Latino USA, distributed by NPR, as well as Co-Host of In The Thick, Futuro Media’s new political podcast, Hinojosa has informed millions about the changing cultural and political landscape in America and abroad. Hinojosa is also Anchor and Executive Producer of the PBS show America By The Numbers, the first national television series to examine our country’s dramatic demographic shifts, and Humanizing America, a digital video series that deconstructs stereotypes about the American electorate. Hinojosa is also a new contributor to the long running award-winning news program CBS Sunday Morning, and is a frequent guest on MSNBC.
Hinojosa’s nearly 30-year career as an award-winning journalist includes reporting for PBS, CBS, WNBC, CNN, NPR, and anchoring the Emmy Award winning talk show Maria Hinojosa: One-on-One. She is the author of two books and has won dozens of awards, including: four Emmys, the John Chancellor Award, the Studs Terkel Community Media Award, two Robert F. Kennedy Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and the Ruben Salazar Lifetime Achievement Award. Hinojosa was the first Latina to anchor a PBS FRONTLINE report: “Lost in Detention” which aired in October 2011, explored abuse at immigrant detention facilities, garnering attention from Capitol Hill as well as both the mainstream and Spanish-language media.
Hinojosa has reported hundreds of important stories — from the restrictive immigration policies in Fremont, Nebraska, to the effects of the oil boom on Native people in North Dakota, to stories of poverty in Alabama. As a reporter for NPR, Hinojosa was among the first to report on youth violence in urban communities on a national scale. During her eight years as CNN’s urban affairs correspondent, Hinojosa often took viewers into communities rarely shown on television. Now at the Futuro Media Group, Hinojosa continues to bring attention to experiences and points of view that are often overlooked or underreported in mainstream media, all while mentoring the next generation of diverse journalists to delve into authentic and nuanced stories that impact their communities. She is currently the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Chair of Latin American and Latino Studies at DePaul University in Chicago, and lives with her husband, son and daughter in Harlem, New York.
Peter Hirshberg is a tech executive and activist who builds organizations and movements and finds value in self-organizing, distributed systems that work from the bottom-up to effect change.
Peter’s sensibilities around how technology can empower people dates back to his early days at Apple, where he headed up Enterprise Markets under Steve Jobs. He has since led technology-based change initiatives for The White House, The United Nations, The World Economic Forum and multiple Silicon Valley companies.
Currently Hirshberg is:
-Chairman, Board-of-Advisors, of Swytch.io, a company deploying blockchain to create a global market for incentives to reduce atmospheric carbon and accelerate capital for renewable energy investments.
-Chairman and Founder of the Gray Area Art and Technology Center, one of San Francisco’s most vibrant and civic-minded arts organizations and a pioneer in digital media education, incubation, performance and exhibition
-Chairman of the Maker City Project, which works with private sector companies and cities to explore new models of economic and civic development in an era of disruotive change. Hirshberg’s research on the Maker City is available in the best-selling book, Maker City: A practical guide to reinventing our cities. Published in late 2016, the book was funded by the Kauffman Foundation and created in collaboration with the Obama White House.
-Advisor to Transloc, a provider of on-demand mobility services for public transit agencies, sold to Ford where he continues as advisor.
Previously Hirshberg served as CEO of Elemental Software (sold to Adobe), Gloss.com (Estee Lauder), and Chairman of Technorati, the pioneering social media search engine and advertising network with over 100M monthly uniques.
He is a Senior Fellow at the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy and a Henry Crown fellow of the Aspen Institute and an author for the Brookings Institution. As an advisor to the United Nations, he’s addressed the General Assembly on the use of real-time data for international development and served as editor of Taking the Global Pulse. In addition to the Maker City, Hirshberg is co-author of “From Bitcoin to Burning Man and Beyond” with the MIT Media lab. A graduate of Dartmouth College, he received his MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Bart Houlahan, along with his partners, Jay Coen Gilbert and Andrew Kassoy, co-founded B Lab in 2006. B Lab is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. B Lab drives systemic change through three interrelated initiatives: 1) Certified B Corporations: a corporate certification for sustainable businesses and social enterprises that meet higher standards of social and environmental performance and legal accountability; 2) GIIRS Ratings and Analytics: a ratings platform (analogous to Morningstar and Capital IQ) that drives capital to impact investments by assessing the social and environmental performance of companies and funds; and 3) Benefit Corporations: a new, legally-recognized corporate form that changes corporate fiduciary duty, permitting companies to create shareholder value and social value. Prior to B Lab, Bart was President of AND 1, a basketball footwear and apparel company. Over the course of 11 years, Bart helped to finance, operate and scale the business to $250 MM in brand revenues with distribution in 80 countries. AND 1 undertook a leveraged recapitalization in 1999 with TA Associates, and was sold in May, 2005, to American Sporting Goods out of Irvine, CA. Before AND 1, Bart was an investment banker with Stonebridge Associates, BNY Associates, and Prudential-Bache Securities. Bart is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and an Advisory Board Member of the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at the Fuqua School of Business. A graduate of Stanford University, Bart now resides in Devon, PA, with his wife, Chrissy, and daughters, Molly and Carly.
John Irons joined The Rockefeller Foundation in 2012. As Managing Director, Foundation Initiatives, he leads much of the Foundation’s work in the United States, particularly initiatives on employment, and contributes more broadly to economic analysis of the Foundation’s initiatives. His focus includes youth employment and inclusive economies. Prior to joining the Rockefeller Foundation, Dr. Irons was the Research Director at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. He was a tenure track Assistant Professor of Economics at Amherst College, and has worked at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and other DC-based think-tanks. Dr. Irons has authored numerous reports and articles on a range of economic topics including tax and budget policy, labor markets, and macroeconomic policy. He has won several awards for his economics websites, including top‐5 awards from The Economist and Forbes. Dr. Irons holds a bachelor’s in economics with High Honors from Swarthmore College and a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Irons was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, as well as a Graduate Fellowship from the Harvard/MIT Research Training Group in Positive Political Economy.
Neil Jacobstein Co-chairs the AI and Robotics Track at Singularity University headquartered at the NASA Research Park in Mountain View California. He is a former President of Singularity University. Jacobstein is a Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Stanford University’s Media X Program. He was a Senior Research Fellow in the Reuters Digital Vision Program at Stanford. He has served as an AI technical consultant on research and development projects for leading business, government, and defense organizations including Deloitte, XPrize, GM, Ford, Boeing, ING, Wells Fargo, FMC, P&G, Hershey, Coca Cola, Loews, Harman, GE, Wipro, Dow, Genentech, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Applied Materials, NSF, DARPA, NASA, NIH, EPA, DOE, the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force. Jacobstein was CEO at Teknowledge Corporation, an early AI company. He chaired the 17th Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence’s (AAAI) Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI) Conference, and continues to review IAAI technical papers annually. Jacobstein is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, has led seminars, and coached Socrates moderators. He was a Graduate Research Intern in Alan Kay’s Learning Research Group at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, and a consultant in PARC’s Software Concepts Group. Jacobstein was appointed by the US National Academy of Sciences to its National Research Council Division on Earth and Life Sciences Committee for the period 2015-2018. Neil has a deep commitment to honoring the humanistic and scientific, and a sense of urgency about us resolving the grand challenge problems facing Earth. Jacobstein has served in a wide variety of executive and advisory roles for industry, nonprofit, and government organizations.
Neal Katyal, the Paul Saunders Professor at Georgetown University, focuses on Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, and Intellectual Property. He has served as Acting Solicitor General of the United States, where he argued several major Supreme Court cases involving a variety of issues, such as his successful defense of the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, his victorious defense of former Attorney General John Ashcroft for alleged abuses in the war on terror, his unanimous victory against 8 states who sued the nation’s leading power plants for contributing to global warming, and a variety of other matters. As Acting Solicitor General, Katyal was responsible for representing the federal government of the United States in all appellate matters before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Courts of Appeals throughout the nation. He served as Counsel of Record hundreds of times, and orally argued 17 U.S. Supreme Court cases, as well as numerous others in lower courts. He was also the only head of the Solicitor General’s office to argue a case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, on the important question of whether certain aspects of the human genome were patentable.
Charles Kenny is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. He has published articles, chapters and books on issues including the link between economic growth and broader development, the causes of improvements in global health, the history of happiness and the link between economic growth and happiness. He is the author of the book Getting Better: Why Global Development is Succeeding, and How We Can Improve the World Even More, and co-author, with his father, of the book Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Utility: Happiness in Philosophical and Economic Thought. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Happiness Studies, a contributing editor at Foreign Policy magazine and a regular columnist for Businessweek.
Sal Khan is the founder of the Khan Academy (khanacademy.org), a nonprofit with the mission of providing free, high-quality education for “anyone, anywhere” in the world. Khan was born andraised in New Orleans, Louisiana. Khan graduated from MIT in 1998 with three degrees: two bachelor of science degrees in mathematics and electrical engineering/computer science; and amaster of science degree in electrical engineering. He began his career working in technology and later earned his MBA at Harvard Business School. Khan then became an analyst at a Boston based hedge fund which later relocated to Palo Alto in 2005. In 2004 as a side project, Khan began tutoring his young cousin in math, communicating by phone and using an interactive notepad. By 2006, word got around and Khan was tutoring 15 family friends and cousins as a hobby. To better scale, he began writing software to give his cousins practice and feedback in mathematics.To complement this software, he also began posting videos of his hand-scribbled tutorials on YouTube. Demand took off, and in 2009, when the practice problems and instructional videos were reaching tens of thousands of students per month, he quit his day job to commit himself fully to the not-for-profit Khan Academy. The Khan Academy website now provides a self-pacing guided learning experience withover100,000 practice exercises and 5,000 instructional videos covering every thing from basic arithmetic to college level science and economics. It’s the most-used library of educational lessons on the web, with over 10 million unique students per month, over 300 million lessons delivered, and over a billion exercises completed. Over 200,000 educators around the world are also using Khan Academy to help build student mastery of topics and to free up class time for dynamic project based learning. Khan has been profiled by 60 Minutes, featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine, and recognized as one of TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World”. In late 2012, Khan released his book The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined.
Bruce Kogut is a chaired professor in the management division at Columbia Business School. He is also the director of the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics. His research includes comparative and economic sociology, strategy, comparative methods, social entrepreneurship, and governance. Professor Kogut has published several books covering various aspects of the global economy and technology in the workplace, in addition to an extensive list of journal publications. His edited book Corporate Governance and International Capital Flows (with Peter Cornelius, chief economist, Alpinvest) was presented at the World Economic Forum and his most recent book is The Small Worlds of Corporate Governance. He joined the faculty in January 2007. Prior to joining the Columbia faculty, Professor Kogut served as the Eli Lilly Chair in Innovation, Business and Society at INSEAD and the Dr. Felix Zandman Professor at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where he headed the Reginald H. Jones Center. He has been a visitor at the École Polytechnique, Stockholm School of Economics, Wissenschaftszentrum, and Santa Fe Institute. Professor Kogut was also the scientific director for EIASM, Brussels; a member of the steering committee for the Advanced Institute of Management; and the research advisory board to the Skolkovo Business School in Russia. He is currently a board member of 3I Infotech. Professor Kogut earned his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, a master’s degree in international affairs at Columbia University, and a BA in political science at the University of California, Berkeley. He received an honorary doctorate from the Stockholm School of Economics in 2005.
Bill Kristol is the editor at large of The Weekly Standard, is a regular on ABC’s This Week and on ABC’s special events and election coverage, and appears frequently on other leading political commentary shows. Before starting The Weekly Standard in 1995, Mr. Kristol led the Project for the Republican Future, where he helped shape the strategy that produced the 1994 Republican congressional victory. He served as editor for 21 years.
Michelle Lapinski is The Nature Conservancy’s Director, Corporate Practices, reporting to the Chief External Affairs Officer. She leads development of the Conservancy’s worldwide corporate engagement strategy, and the Conservancy’s International Leadership Council of corporations. She is especially focused on increasing collaboration with the private sector to improve business practices andengage industry partners to realize the benefits of conservation and good ecosystem management as a business strategy. Michelle is located at the Conservancy’s worldwide office in Arlington, VA. Michelle’s career has focused on advising leading global companies on more sustainable business strategies, practices and business models. Most recently she ran her own consulting business, SustainBiz, and has advised clients such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Starbucks as well as private investors to build sustainability into their business strategies and practices. She served as Deputy Director of the Global Health and Safety Initiative, an alliance of 10 of the nation’s largest health care organizations integrating sustainability into operations, sector goal, research and development and public policy. Michelle developed the public private partnership of the Global Environment Facility, launched at the UNFCCC in Bali. Prior to launching her own business, she did similar work for Business for Social Responsibility as Director, Advisory Services, leading BSR’s work in the Food & Agriculture, Consumer Products and Transportation sectors with Fortune 500 companies. While there she led the development of several voluntary industry partnerships to create global guidelines in the consumer products and transportation sectors including the first methodology for calculating scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions from ocean container shipping and restricted substances lists and water quality standards in the consumer products industries. Michelle began her work on sustainability at Gap Inc., where she developed the company’s industry-leading initiative on responsible sourcing. As Gap Inc.’s Global Environmental Health & Safety Manager she developed standards for its products and 3500 suppliers in 53 countries. Michelle holds a Master of Science in Environmental Management from the University of San Francisco, where she also served as an Adjunct Professor and a Bachelor of Arts in Behavioral Biology from Johns Hopkins University. She is a founding Board member and National Co-Director of Young Women Social Entrepreneurs and an Environmental Leadership Program Senior Fellow. In her free time she can be found exploring the outdoors, wandering art galleries, cooking and enjoying live music.
Dr. Cara LaPointe is a Senior Fellow at the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University and she has spent her career working at the intersection of emerging technologies, leadership, policy and ethics. Her expertise areas include blockchain technology as well as autonomous and unmanned systems. During two decades as a naval officer, she also held roles in government acquisitions, ship design and production, naval force architecture, and power and energy systems. Cara is a patented engineer and she holds degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of Oxford, and the United States Naval Academy.
Welby Leaman is Senior Director for Global Government Affairs at Walmart, where he is lead on the Americas from the company’s headquarters in Arkansas. Walmart de México y Centroamérica has over 230,000 employees and 3000 stores, covering every state in Mexico and all five Central American CAFTA countries, which gives it a constructive role in both the U.S.-Mexico relationship and Mexico’s socioeconomic development prospects. Previously, as Trade Counsel to the U.S. House Ways & Means Committee, Leaman managed passage of the U.S.-Colombia trade agreement, consultation with USTR on 14 chapters of TPP and TTIP, and ongoing congressional oversight of NAFTA. He served as Director for International Investment at the U.S. National Security Council and as Senior Advisor at the U.S. Treasury, where he was lead U.S. negotiator of the financial services chapter of the Peru and Colombia trade agreements, led the team that wrote the CFIUS regulations, and helped staff the NAFTA Financial Services Committee. He practiced law at Debevoise & Plimpton and WilmerHale and was placed for several years into the Peruvian government by the UN Development Program. Leaman chairs the board of the Nazareth Project, serves on advisory councils for the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center, the Rosenthal Fellowship, Aspen Institute’s Socrates Program, and INCAE business school. He was a 2014 Eisenhower Fellow in Brazil and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds a B.S. from Messiah College and J.D. from Yale Law School.
Dean of the School of Public Affairs and a specialist in Latin American politics and U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America, William LeoGrande has been a frequent adviser to government and private sector agencies. He has written five books, including Our Own Backyard: The United States in Central America, 1977 – 1992. Most recently, he was co-editor of A Contemporary Cuba Reader: Reinventing the Revolution. Previously, he served on the staffs of the Democratic Policy Committee of the United States Senate, and the Democratic Caucus Task Force on Central America of the United States House of Representatives. William has been a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow, and a Pew Faculty Fellow in International Affairs. His articles have appeared in various international and national journals, magazines and newspapers.
David Leonhardt is the Washington bureau chief of The New York Times. He is the author of the e-book, “Here’s the Deal: How Washington Can Solve the Deficit and Spur Growth,” published by The Times and Byliner. Previously, Mr. Leonhardt wrote the paper’s Economic Scene column, focusing on the housing bubble, the economic downturn, the budget deficit, health reform and education. In April 2011, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Mr. Leonhardt has also been a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine and helped found the Economix blog. He won the Gerald Loeb Award for magazine writing in 2009 for a Times Magazine article, “Obamanomics.” In 2005, he was one of the reporters who produced “Class Matters,” the paper’s series on social class in the United States. In 2004, he founded an analytical sports column, called “Keeping Score.” He became Washington bureau chief in September 2011. Before joining The Times in 1999, he worked for Business Week magazine and The Washington Post. Mr. Leonhardt studied applied mathematics at Yale. He is a third-generation native of New York.
In 2014, Eric Letsinger founded Quantified Ventures to scale promising, evidence-based enterprises with strong potential for measurable social impact. Leveraging his performance management, data analytics, deal structuring and organizational transformation expertise to advance performance-based transactions (e.g., Social Impact Bonds, Pay For Success), he develops a series of impact investment projects across the healthcare, education, human services and environmental industries. Having spent much of his career driving government efficiencies through public-private initiatives, Eric finds Social Impact Bonds represent a natural progression of his life’s work, enabling the social and public sectors to price, buy and sell validated outcomes as a means to accelerate clients’ ability to meet mission.
Eric brings 25+ years of senior leadership and direct management experience to the social impact industry. In executive positions in the private sector (IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cyveillance Software), public sector (Baltimore City Public Schools, Baltimore Housing Department) and the non-profit sector (Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, Campaign to Fix the Debt, Samaritan Inns), he has honed deep expertise in, and passion for, the education, healthcare, environmental and human services sectors.
Eric has an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a B.A. in Urban Studies from Northwestern University.
Music is his thing.
Peter L. Levin was appointed Senior Advisor to the Secretary, and Chief Technology Officer of the Department of Veterans Affairs on June 1, 2009. In this role, Dr. Levin identifies new technologies and promotes innovations that will allow VA to serve veterans with higher reliability, greater accessibility, and lower cost. Dr. Levin further acts as a liaison to key stakeholders, other Federal agencies, and private sector partners. Dr. Levin has a long and distinguished career in both government and technology. Most recently, he worked as cofounder and Chief Executive of an award-winning semiconductor software firm. He sat on the board of directors of several early-stage technology start-ups, most notably NeoLinear Inc. and Astaro AG, and he was a general partner of TVM as well as a venture partner in Ventizz Capital – both early-stage venture capital firms based in Germany. Dr. Levin was a White House Fellow during the Clinton Administration; he was a Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the Assistant to the Counselor to the President. He was also an expert consultant in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he co-edited the 1997 Biennial Presidential Report to Congress on Science and Technology, and co-authored its chapter on technology.
Madeline Levine, Ph.D. is a psychologist with close to 30 years of experience as a clinician, consultant and educator. Her New York Times bestseller, The Price of Privilege, explores the reasons why teenagers from affluent families are experiencing epidemic rates of emotional problems. Her new book, Teach Your Children Well, to be released July 31, 2012, outlines how our current narrow definition of success unnecessarily stresses academically talented kids and marginalizes many more whose talents and interests are less amenable to measurement. The development of skills needed to be successful in the 21st century- creativity, collaboration, innovation – are not easily developed in our competitive, fast-paced, high pressure world. Teach Your Children Well gives practical, research- based solutions to help parents return their families to healthier and saner versions of themselves. Dr. Levine is also a co-founder of Challenge Success, a project born at the Stanford School of Education. Challenge Success believes that our increasingly competitive world has led to tremendous anxiety about our childrens’ futures and has resulted in a high pressure, myopic focus on grades, test scores and performance.
Eric Liu is founder and CEO of Citizen University and teaches civic leadership at the University of Washington. He served as a White House speechwriter for President Clinton and later as the president’s deputy domestic policy advisor. After the White House, he was an executive at the digital media company RealNetworks. His books include A China Man’s Chance, The Gardens of Democracy, The True Patriot, The Accidental Asian, Guiding Lights, and Imagination First. Liu hosts the television interview program “Seattle Voices” and is a regular columnist for CNN.com and a correspondent for TheAtlantic.com. He is co-founder of the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility.
Donlyn Lyndon FAIA conducts a consulting practice, Architecture and Place, that draws on his extensive background in education, publication and practice in architecture and urban design Professor Lyndon’s work as an architect, author and educator concerned with the design of places has been widely recognized. Within CED he was a member of the Graduate Group for the Design of Urban Places and taught in both the Architecture and Master of Urban Design programs. He is the Editor of PLACES, a journal of environmental design, author of The Sea Ranch (with Jim Alinder) and The City Observed: Boston, and co-author of Chambers for a Memory Palace and The Place of Houses. He serves on the Boards of the International Laboratory of Architecture and Urban Design, in Italy and of the Charles Moore Center for the Study of Place in Austin TX. He is Chair of the Board of Directors for the Kronos Performing Arts Association and has served as a member of the Architectural Advisory Board for the US State Department’s Office of Overseas Building Operations. His architectural and urban design practice has included a continuing series of works at the Sea Ranch CA, where, with MLTW (Moore Lyndon Turnbull Whitaker), he was one of the designers of Condominium One, (1965) which subsequently received the distinguished 25 year Award from the AIA. He has continuing architectural work there and has been the architect for projects elsewhere in California, Texas, New England, the South and the Northwest. His urban design practice in California has included plans for Pasadena, Menlo Park and Berkeley, including the Bayer Bio tech campus and the Downtown Public Improvements Master Plan for Berkeley. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, his work has received numerous design awards and he is frequently asked to serve on architectural competition juries. Lyndon served as Head of the Department of Architecture at the University of Oregon, and at MIT, and is a former Chair of the Department of Architecture at Berkeley. His work as an educator was honored in 1997 with the AIA-ACSA’s Topaz Award, the highest award in architectural education, and he has served as a Chancellor’s Professor and as the Eva Li Professor at Berkeley. Research activity includes examination of the structure of place and the ethical dimensions of design.
Larissa MacFarquhar has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1998. Her Profile subjects have included John Ashbery, Barack Obama, Noam Chomsky, Hilary Mantel, Derek Parfit, David Chang, and Aaron Swartz, among many others. She is the author of “Strangers Drowning: Grappling with Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Overpowering Urge to Help” (Penguin Press, 2015). Before joining the magazine, she was a senior editor at Lingua Franca and an advisory editor at The Paris Review, and wrote for Artforum, The Nation, The New Republic, the Times Book Review, Slate, and other publications. She has received two Front Page Awards from the Newswomen’s Club of New York, and her writing has appeared in The Best American Political Writing (2007 and 2009) and The Best American Food Writing (2008).
Michele Martin hosts “Tell Me More,” NPR’s talk program focused on headlines, issues, and the joys relevant to multicultural life in America. Martin’s career in journalism spans more than 25 years, with experience in newspapers; television; and, since joining NPR in 2006, public radio. As host, Martin orchestrates a gathering place for dialogue on important issues facing the country. With a range of guests, regular contributors, and NPR reporters, Martin talks about the challenges and opportunities of living in a fast-paced, complicated society.
Russell Muirhead is the Robert Clements Associate Professor of Democracy and Politics at Dartmouth College. The author of Just Work (Harvard University Press, 2004), he is currently at work on a book on partisanship titled A Defense of Party Spirit. Previously, Muirhead taught political theory at the University of Texas at Austin, Harvard University, and Williams College. He was a Radcliffe Institute Fellow (2005-6) and a winner of the Roselyn Abramson Teacher Award at Harvard College. He holds a PhD and AB from Harvard University and a BA from Balliol College at Oxford University.
Michele Norris is one of the most trusted voices in American Journalism. Her voice informs, engages and enlightens listeners with thoughtful interviews and in depth reporting as one of the hosts of NPR’s flagship afternoon broadcast, All Things Considered. Michele uses an approachable interviewing style that is at once relaxed and rigorous. She’s interviewed world leaders, Nobel laureates, Oscar winners, American Presidents, military leaders, influential newsmakers and even astronauts traveling in outer space. In her first book, The Grace of Silence, she turns her formidable interviewing and investigative skills on her own background to unearth long hidden family secrets that raise questions about her racial legacy and shed new light on America’s complicated racial history. Michele started The Race Card Project in 2010 to help foster a candid dialogue about race.
Joseph Nye received his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1958. He did postgraduate work at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship and earned a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University. He joined the Harvard Faculty in 1964, and taught one of the largest core curriculum courses in the college. In December 1995, he became Dean of the Kennedy School through June 2004. He is the Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations and University Distinguished Service Professor. He has also worked in three government agencies. From 1977 to 1979, Mr. Nye served as Deputy to the Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology and chaired the National Security Council Group on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In recognition of his service, he received the highest Department of State commendation, the Distinguished Honor Award. In 1993 and 1994, he was chairman of the National Intelligence Council, which coordinates intelligence estimates for the President. He was awarded the Intelligence Community’s Distinguished Service Medal. In 1994 and 1995, he served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, where he also won the Distinguished Service Medal with an Oak Leaf Cluster. A Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Academy of Diplomacy, Mr. Nye has also been a Senior Fellow of the Aspen Institute, Director of the Aspen Strategy Group, and North American Chairman of The Trilateral Commission. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Diplomacy; a director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a member of the advisory committee of the Institute of International Economics, and the American representative on the United Nations Advisory Committee on Disarmament Affairs. He has been a trustee of Wells College and Radcliffe College. A member of the editorial boards of Foreign Policy and International Security magazines, he is the author of numerous books and more than a hundred and fifty articles in professional journals. His most recent publication is The Powers to Lead (2008). In addition, he recently published; The Power Game: A Washington Novel (2004); Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics (2004), and an anthology, Power in the Global Information Age (2004). He has published policy articles in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, and The Financial Times. He has appeared on programs such as ABC’s Nightline and Good Morning America, CNN’s Larry King Live, CBS’s Evening News, and The PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer, as well as Australian, British, French, Swiss, Japanese, and Korean television. In addition to teaching at Harvard, Dr. Nye also has taught for brief periods in Geneva, Ottawa, and London. He is an honorary fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. He has lived for extended periods in Europe, East Africa, Central America, and traveled to more than 90 countries. His hobbies include fly fishing, hiking, squash, skiing, gardening, and working on his tree farm in New Hampshire. He is married to Molly Harding Nye, an art consultant and potter. They have three grown sons.
Peter R. Orszag is vice chairman of corporate and investment banking, chairman of the Public Sector Group, and chairman of the Financial Strategy and Solutions Group at Citigroup, Inc. He is a contributing columnist at Bloomberg View, a distinguished scholar at New York University School of Law, and an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Orszag previously served as director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Obama administration and as director of the Congressional Budget Office.
Geneva Overholser is director of the School of Journalism at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Previously she held the Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Reporting for the Missouri School of Journalism, where she was based in the school’s Washington bureau. From 1988 to 1995, Overholser was editor of The Des Moines Register, where she led the paper to a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. While at the Register, she also earned recognition as Editor of the Year by the National Press Foundation and was named “The Best in the Business” by American Journalism Review. In addition, Overholser has been ombudsman of The Washington Post, a member of the editorial board of The New York Times, a syndicated columnist for The Washington Post Writers Group, and a reporter for the Colorado Springs Sun. She has been a columnist for the Columbia Journalism Review and frequent contributor to Poynter.org. She also spent five years overseas, working and writing in Paris and Kinshasa. Through the Annenberg Public Policy Center, in 2006 she published a manifesto on the future of journalism titled On Behalf of Journalism: A Manifesto for Change. She is also co-editor, with Kathleen Hall Jamieson, of the volume “The Press,” part of the Oxford University Press Institutions of American Democracy series. Overholser is a member of the boards of the Knight Fellowships at Stanford, the Center for Public Integrity, the Committee of Concerned Journalists and the Academy of American Poets. She serves on the Journalism Advisory Committee of the Knight Foundation. She was for nine years a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board, the final year as chair, and is a former officer of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. She is a fellow of the Society of Professional Journalists and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She held a Nieman fellowship at Harvard and a Congressional fellowship with the American Political Science Association. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Wellesley College, a master’s in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and a French language certificate from the Sorbonne. She has honorary doctorates from Grinnell College and St. Andrews Presbyterian College, and alumnae achievement awards from Wellesley, Northwestern and Medill.
Eboo Patel founded Interfaith Youth Core on the idea that religion should be a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division. He is inspired to build this bridge by his identity as an American Muslim navigating a highly religiously diverse social landscape. For over fifteen years he has worked with governments, social sector organizations, and college and university campuses to help make interfaith cooperation a social norm. Named by US News & World Report as one of America’s Best Leaders of 2009, Eboo served on President Obama’s Inaugural Faith Council and is the author of Acts of Faith, Sacred Ground and the new Interfaith Leadership: A Primer. He holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship. Eboo lives in Chicago with his wife, Shehnaz, and two sons. When he’s not teaching his kids about interfaith cooperation, you’ll find him feeding his coffee addiction and rooting for Notre Dame.
William Powers is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Hamlet’s BlackBerry. Widely praised for its insights on the digital future, the book grew out of research he did as a fellow at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center. He is currently a Research Scientist at the MIT Media Lab, where he’s developing new tools for social discourse.
Rebecca Ratner is an associate professor of marketing at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. Prior to joining the faculty at the Smith School, Ratner was associate professor of marketing at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, a visiting scholar at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a visiting faculty fellow at the James M. Kilts Center for Marketing at the University of Chicago. Her research explores factors underlying suboptimal decision making and focuses on variety seeking, affective forecasting, and the influence of social norms. Her work has appeared in leading marketing, psychology, and decision-making journals, including Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Psychology, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. She is a recipient of the Academy of Management Best Paper Award (for the most influential paper in conflict management from 1998-2001) and is the recipient of several teaching awards for her courses on consumer behavior and marketing management, which she has taught to MBA students, undergraduate students, and executives. She currently serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Marketing Research and Journal of Economic Psychology and is associate editor for Journal of Consumer Research. She holds a M.A. degree in psychology from Williams College and a Ph.D. in social psychology from Princeton University.
Dan Restrepo is a Senior Fellow at Center for American Progress, where his work focuses on the United States’ relationship with and place in the Americas, and particularly the importance of a high-functioning, mutually respectful and beneficial U.S.-Mexico relationship.
For nearly six years and through two presidential campaigns, Restrepo served as the principal advisor to President Barack Obama on issues related to Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada, serving as special assistant to the president and senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council from March 2009 to July 2012 and as an advisor to and surrogate for Obama for America during the 2008 and 2012 campaigns. Previously, Restrepo created and directed The Americas Project—focused on Latin America and on the role of Hispanics in the United States, their future, and the implications for public policy—at the Center for American Progress. Restrepo worked as an associate at the law firm of Williams & Connolly, LLP, and served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Anthony J. Scirica of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Restrepo also worked for Rep. Lee H. Hamilton on the staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the mid-1990s.
Restrepo, who also serves as a consultant to private-sector clients on strategy, policy, and communications, is also a regular conference speaker and frequent commentator and analyst on various Spanish- and English-language media outlets on a wide range of domestic policy and national security issues. Restrepo is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.
Amanda Ripley writes books and feature magazine articles for the Atlantic and other outlets. She is the author, most recently, of The Smartest Kids in the World–and How They Got That Way, a New York Times bestseller. Her first book, The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes–and Why, was published in 15 countries and turned into a PBS documentary. In her writing, Amanda explores the gap between public policy and human behavior. For Time and The Atlantic, she has written cover stories on the primacy of sports in American high schools, the college of the future and the science of motivating children. She has visited schools on four continents and interviewed hundreds of kids, teachers and parents. The Smartest Kids, Amanda’s last book, follows three American teenagers living for one year in countries with higher-performing education systems. The book was referenced on the op-ed page of the New York Times seven times, and it was published in 15 countries. A documentary film inspired by The Smartest Kids is currently in production across six countries. Amanda’s writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Slate, the Wall Street Journal and the Times of London. Her work has helped Time win two National Magazine Awards. To discuss her writing, Amanda has appeared on ABC, NBC, CNN, FOX News and NPR. She has spoken at the Pentagon, the U.S. Senate, the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Before joining Time as a writer in 2000, Amanda covered the D.C. courts for Washington City Paper and Capitol Hill for Congressional Quarterly. She graduated from Cornell University. She currently lives in Washington, D.C., where she is a senior fellow at the Emerson Collective.
Harvey Rishikof is a senior counsel in Crowell & Moring’s Privacy & Cybersecurity and Governments Contracts group in Washington, D.C. He specializes in national security, civil and military courts, terrorism, international law, civil liberties, and constitutional law. Prior to joining the firm, Rishikof was the dean of faculty at the National War College and former chair of the department of National Strategy, legal counsel to the deputy director of the FBI, federal law clerk to Leonard I. Garth (Third Circuit), and AA to the Chief Justice of the United States. He also previously served as dean of Roger Williams University School of Law. Throughout his career, Rishikof has served on numerous committees and held multiple positions in government focusing on cybersecurity investigations. Most recently, he was the senior policy advisor to the National Counterintelligence Executive (NCIX), the agency responsible for counterintelligence and insider threat management across the federal government. He is a graduate of McGill University and earned an MA from Brandeis University, an MA from National War College, and a JD from New York Law School.
Peter F. Romero is the CEO of Experior Advisory, a Washington DC-based consulting firm that specializes in international business and political advising. Mr. Romero has over twenty-six years of experience negotiating in international markets and politics. He has advised major U.S. corporations on national and local strategies regarding environmental, indigenous, labor, and political issues. In addition, he advises U.S. and foreign companies on capital raising, selecting local partners, acquisitions, and mergers in association with several investment banks. From July 2001 to April 2003 Mr. Romero served as Managing Director of Violy, Byorum & Partners (VB&P). During this time, he led the advisory and consultancy practice at VB&P, which included foreign–venue dispute resolution and bidding (both public and private). Additionally, Mr. Romero is a board advisor to U.S. and foreign corporations on commercial and financial matters in connection with governmental affairs. Formerly, Mr. Romero was the Assistant Secretary of State of the new Western Hemisphere Affairs Bureau (an area that stretches from Canada to Chile), where he was the highest-ranking Hispanic in the career U.S. Foreign Service. A twenty-four-year career diplomat, he previously served inter alia as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador and Chief of Mission of our Embassy in San Salvador. The bureau Ambassador Romero led is responsible for promoting U.S. interests in the Western Hemisphere in support of strengthening democratic institutions, expanding U.S. trade opportunities and attaining sustainable economic development, including the start of free trade negotiations with Chile. Ambassador Romero promoted enhanced cooperation on counternarcotics, crime, and poverty reduction. On counternarcotics, he was a principal architect of the Forward Operations Location (FOLS) concept, which now forms the lynchpin of our national security strategy. Ambassador Romero was responsible for making and defending budget proposals before the U.S. Congress and executing an annual operations budget in excess of $2 billion. First as U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador, and then as Assistant Secretary of State, Ambassador Romero played a key role in support of the peaceful resolution of the border dispute between Peru and Ecuador. Born in New York, Peter Romero received a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from Florida State University. He speaks fluent English, Spanish and Italian.
David Rose is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and instructor at the MIT Media Lab. His research focuses on making the physical environment an interface to digital information. David is the CEO at Ditto Labs an image-recognition software platform which scours social media photos to find brands and products. His new book, Enchanted Objects, focuses on the future of the internet of things, and how these technologies will impact the ways we live and work. Prior to Ditto, David founded and was CEO at Vitality, a company that reinvented medication packaging now distributed by CVS, Walgreens, and Express Scripts. He founded Ambient Devices, which pioneered glanceable technology: embedding internet information in everyday objects like lamps, mirrors, and umbrellas. David holds patents for photo sharing, interactive TV, ambient information displays, and medical devices. His work has been featured at the MoMA, covered in The New York Times, WIRED, The Economist, and parodied on the Colbert Report.
Jeffrey Rosen is a professor of law at The George Washington University and the legal affairs editor of The New Republic. His most recent book is The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries that Defined America. He also is the author of The Most Democratic Branch, The Naked Crowd, and The Unwanted Gaze. Rosen is a graduate of Harvard College, summa cum laude; Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar; and Yale Law School. Professor Rosen’s essays and commentaries have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, on National Public Radio, and in The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer. The Chicago Tribune named him one of the 10 best magazine journalists in America and the L.A. Times called him, “the nation’s most widely read and influential legal commentator.”
Ambassador Dennis Ross is counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Prior to returning to the Institute in 2011, he served two years as special assistant to President Obama and National Security Council senior director for the Central Region, and a year as special advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.For more than twelve years, Ambassador Ross played a leading role in shaping U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process and dealing directly with the parties in negotiations. A highly skilled diplomat, Ambassador Ross was U.S. point man on the peace process in both the George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. He was instrumental in assisting Israelis and Palestinians to reach the 1995 Interim Agreement; he also successfully brokered the 1997 Hebron Accord, facilitated the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty, and intensively worked to bring Israel and Syria together.
A scholar and diplomat with more than two decades of experience in Soviet and Middle East policy, Ambassador Ross worked closely with Secretaries of State James Baker, Warren Christopher, and Madeleine Albright. Prior to his service as special Middle East coordinator under President Clinton, Ambassador Ross served as director of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff in the first Bush administration. In that capacity, he played a prominent role in U.S. policy toward the former Soviet Union, the unification of Germany and its integration into NATO, arms control negotiations, and the 1991 Gulf War coalition.
During the Reagan administration, he served as director of Near East and South Asian affairs on the National Security Council staff and deputy director of the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment. Ambassador Ross was awarded the Presidential Medal for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service by President Clinton, and Secretaries Baker and Albright presented him with the State Department’s highest award.
A 1970 graduate of UCLA, Ambassador Ross wrote his doctoral dissertation on Soviet decisionmaking, and from 1984 to 1986 served as executive director of the Berkeley-Stanford program on Soviet International Behavior. He received UCLA’s highest medal and has been named UCLA alumnus of the year. He has also received honorary doctorates from Brandeis, Amherst, Jewish Theological Seminary, and Syracuse University. Ambassador Ross was named a 2016-2017 senior fellow by Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.
Ambassador Ross has published extensively on the former Soviet Union, arms control, and the greater Middle East, contributing numerous chapters to anthologies. In the 1970s and 1980s, his articles appeared in World Politics, Political Science Quarterly, Orbis, International Security, Survival, and Journal of Strategic Studies. Since leaving government at the end of 2011, he has authored many op-eds in the New York Times, Washington Post, and other papers and magazines. In addition, he writes monthly columns for US News and World Report, the New York Daily News, and the Middle Eastern newspaper Asharq al-awsat.
Ross is the author of several influential books on the peace process, most recently Doomed to Succeed: The U.S.-Israel Relationship from Truman to Obama (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, October 2015). That book was awarded the 2015 National Jewish Book Award for history. Previously, he coauthored Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East with Institute peace process expert David Makovsky. An earlier study, The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2004), offers comprehensive analytical and personal insight into the Middle East peace process. The New York Times praised his 2007 publication, Statecraft, And How to Restore America’s Standing in the World (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007), as “important and illuminating.”
Professor Nouriel Roubini is an internationally known expert in the field of international macroeconomics. He is a Professor of Economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business and is also the co-founder and Chairman of RGE Monitor, an innovative economic and geo-strategic information service named one of the best economics websites by Business Week, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal and The Economist. Professor Roubini served as a senior adviser to the White House Council of Economic Advisers and the U.S. Treasury Department; has published numerous policy papers and books on key international macroeconomic issues; and is regularly cited as an authority in the media. He received an undergraduate degree at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy and a Ph.D. in Economics at Harvard University, and was previously a faculty member at Yale University.
Kai Ryssdal took the reins as host of the public radio program, Marketplace, produced by American Public Media (APM) in August 2005. He previously hosted APM’s Marketplace Morning Report for more than four years. Before joining Marketplace, Kai was a reporter and substitute host for The California Report, a news and information program distributed to public radio stations throughout California by KQED-FM in San Francisco. His radio work has won first place awards from the Radio and Television News Directors Association and the national Public Radio News Directors Association. After graduating from Emory University in Atlanta, Kai spent eight years in the United States Navy, first flying from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, and then as a Pentagon staff officer. Before his career in public radio, Kai was a member of the United States Foreign Service and served in Ottawa, Canada, and Beijing, China. Kai is married and the father of four. He also enjoys running, a fact featured in a Runner’s World magazine article.
Judy Samuelson created the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program (BSP), an independently supported program at the Aspen Institute, in 1998. BSP respects the power of business to shape the long-term health of society, and works to align business decisions with the public good. It engages leaders and social intrapreneurs — from MBAs to CEOs — in dialogue, networks and public programs that put common sense decision-making at the heart of business practice and education. Signature programs include the Corporate Values Strategy Group, a forum for business leaders to promote change in policy and business practice in pursuit of long-term value creation, the Faculty Pioneer Awards, and the First Movers Fellowship Program. Judy spearheaded the creation of the Aspen Principles, a set of guidelines to spotlight short-termism in business and capital markets, and promote long-term focus by companies and institutional investors. The Principles are widely cited and were recently named one of “50 Stars in Seriously Long-Term Innovation.” Before Aspen, Judy led the Ford Foundation’s office of Program Related-Investments. She has also been a middle-market banker in New York’s garment center for Bankers Trust Company, and a lobbyist and legislative aide in her home state of California, working on health and education issues. Judy studied Political Science and Art History at UCLA and has a Master’s Degree from the Yale School of Management. She has served on the Boards of the Center for Political Accountability, which promotes transparency of political contributions by business; the micro-enterprise lender ACCION-New York; All Souls Unitarian Church; and Net Impact, where she is Chair Emeritus. Judy was named to the “Good Business New York list of Leading Women” and a Top 100 Thought Leader in Trustworthy Business Behavior. Judy publishes and speaks on the role of corporations in society; she tweets @JudySamuelson and blogs for Huffington Post.
Jeremy Schaap has been a reporter on ESPN since 1996, appearing frequently on SportsCenter and ˆ, on which he also serves as substitute host. In addition, he is the substitute host for The Sports Reporters on Sundays and contributes to ABC’s Nightline and World News Tonight. Schaap is also a correspondent for E:60, ESPN’s first multi-themed prime-time newsmagazine program. Schaap has won five Sports Emmy Awards and other honors for his work, which usually focuses not on simply who won or lost, but on breaking news, investigative journalism and profiling intriguing stories and personalities. He authored the New York Times bestseller Cinderella Man, which in 2005 became an Emmy-winning ESPN documentary about heavyweight champion James Braddock. He also authored Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics, published in 2007. On Sept. 12, 2000, Schaap conducted a one-on-one, exclusive interview with former Indiana University coach Bob Knight – the first by Knight after being fired by the university two days earlier. He also was the first reporter to interview Darryl Strawberry in 1998 after the New York Yankee was diagnosed with colon cancer. In a poignant moment in 2006, Schaap won his fifth Sports Emmy Award, the one named for his award-winning journalist father who passed away in 2001 – the Dick Schaap Award for Writing. It was for the SportsCenter feature, “Finding Bobby Fischer.” He had previously won three for his work on Outside the Lines and one as a feature producer for SportsCenter. Before joining ESPN, Schaap, was a writer for NBC’s Atlanta Summer Olympics daytime show (hosted by Greg Gumbel), and a writer and producer for NBC’s Wimbledon coverage. In 1994, Schaap was a writer for CBS’s Lillehammer Winter Olympics prime-time show. His television career also includes covering sports and general news for New York 1 News (1992-94), and serving as an associate editor of special projects for the Winter and Summer Olympics for Sports Illustrated (1991-92). His writing has been published in the international edition of Time magazine, Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, Time, Parade, the New York Times, and in the official program of the Twenty-Fifth Olympiad. A native of New York City, Schaap is a 1991 graduate of Cornell University.
Kurt L. Schmoke, born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1949, came from a middle class background. His father, Murray, a civilian chemist for the U.S. Army, was a graduate of Morehouse College, and his mother, Irene was a social worker. Schmoke attended the city’s prestigious public high school, Baltimore City College, winning both academic and athletic distinctions, and leading his school to a state championship in football. Schmoke entered Yale University in 1967 and three years later, he acted as a student leader to help defuse a crisis in 1970 over the New Haven murder trial of Black Panther Bobby Seale. After graduating from Yale, Schmoke studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. In 1976 he graduated from Harvard Law School. Following a brief career in Washington, D.C., serving on the White House Domestic Policy Staff and at the Department of Transportation during the Administration of President Jimmy Carter, he returned to Baltimore and was elected to the position of State’s Attorney in 1982, and five years later he won the election for mayor of Baltimore. – See more at: https://www.blackpast.org/aah/schmoke-kurt-l-1949#sthash.ubxLI1bE.dpuf
Sonal Shah is Professor of Practice and the founding Executive Director of the Beeck Center for Social Impact & Innovation at Georgetown University. The Center is designed to be cross disciplinary focusing on providing experiential and skills-based learning for undergraduate and graduate students; developing executive programs for practitioners on social impact and innovation; developing actionable and practical thought-leadership on relevant issues in social impact and innovation; and designing a “lab” space for students, professors and practitioners to co-create social enterprises. Sonal is an economist and entrepreneur who has spent her career focused on actionable innovation in in government, business and the non-profit sectors. She is the former Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the first White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation that focused on investing in and scaling innovative models in the social sector. She also served on President Obama’s Transition Board overseeing the Technology, Innovation, Government Reform working group. Before joining the White House, Shah led Google’s global development initiatives for its philanthropy, Google.org. Prior to Google, Shah was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs, Inc. where she developed and managed the firm’s environmental strategy. She spent seven years at the U.S. Department of Treasury where she was an international economist working on timely development issues, including post-conflict development in Bosnia, Asian financial crisis, and poverty reduction in Africa. Sonal also has significant non-profit experience. She co-founded a non-profit, Indicorps, which offers fellowships for Indian-Americans to work on development projects in India. She helped set up the Center for Global Development where she managed the daily operations and developed the policy and advocacy programs for the Center. She also worked at the Center for American Progress focusing on trade, outsourcing and post conflict issues. Shah received her MA in Economics from Duke University and BA in Economics from the University of Chicago. She is a Senior Fellow at the Case Foundation working on Impact Investing; Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress on social innovation; an Institute of Politics fellow at Harvard University; an Aspen Crown Fellow; and a Next Generation Fellow. She leads the G7 International Development Working Group for Impact Investing. She serves on the Boards of Social Finance, Inc. and the Washington Area of Women’s Foundation.
Sue Sheridan is the former Chief Counsel to the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality, a part of the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the U.S. House of Representatives. In that position, Sue served as the lead attorney responsible for overseeing hearings, drafting bills, and advancing legislative proposals on a wide variety of energy matters. Her expertise includes climate change policy, electricity regulation, nuclear energy and waste disposal issues, and oil and natural gas law. Sue began her work with the Committee on Energy and Commerce in 1983, serving as Majority Counsel from 1983 to 1994, as Senior Democratic Counsel from 1995 to 2006, and as Chief Counsel to the Subcommittee from 2007 to May 2008. Prior to her service on Capitol Hill, Sue worked on detail to the staff of the White House Domestic Policy Council and as a staff attorney for the U.S. Department of Energy. Sue received her J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School (1979), and her B.A. from Duke University (1976). She is a member of the Keystone Center Energy Board and an adviser to Columbia University’s Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy. Sue is an adjunct professor at the George Washington Law School. She is a frequent speaker before U.S. and international audiences on energy and environmental policy, and represents corporate and environmental entities with interests in legislative and regulatory affairs.
Anne-Marie Slaughter is the Bert G. Kerstetter ’66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. From 2009–2011 she served as Director of Policy Planning for the United States Department of State, the first woman to hold that position. Dr. Slaughter is a frequent contributor to both mainstream and new media, publishing op-eds in major newspapers, magazines and blogs around the world and curating foreign policy news for over 40,000 followers on Twitter. She appears regularly on CNN, the BBC, NPR, and PBS, lectures widely, and has served on boards of organizations ranging from the Council of Foreign Relations and the New America Foundation to the McDonald’s Corporation and the Citigroup Economic and Political Strategies Advisory Group. Foreign Policy magazine named her to their annual list of the Top 100 Global Thinkers in 2009, 2010, and 2011.
Hedrick Smith, Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times reporter and editor and Emmy award-winning producer/correspondent, has established himself over the past 50 years of his career as one of America’s most distinguished journalists. In 26 years with The New York Times, Mr. Smith covered Martin Luther King Jr and the civil rights struggle, the Vietnam War in Saigon, the Middle East conflict from Cairo, the Cold War with stints in both Moscow and Washington, and six American presidents and their administrations. In 1971, as chief diplomatic correspondent, he was a member of the Pulitzer Prize-winning team that produced the Pentagon Papers series. In 1974, he won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting from Russia and Eastern Europe. For PBS since 1989, Hedrick Smith has created 26 prime-time specials and mini-series on such varied topics as terrorism, Wall Street, Soviet perestroika, Wall Street, Wal-Mart, Enron, tax evasion, educational reform, health care, the environment, jazz greats Duke Ellington and Dave Brubeck, and Washington’s power game.
Jamie Smith brings nearly two decades of strategic communications experience to BitFury. Smith has previously served as Executive Vice President overseeing multi-channel media for Edelman Public Relations, Special Assistant to the President, Presidential Spokesperson, and Deputy White House Press Secretary, Director of Public Affairs for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Communications Director for the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and its then Chairman, U.S. Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV’s, Traveling Press Director and Spokesperson for Secretary Hillary Clinton’s 2008 President Campaign, Communications Director for Secretary Madeleine K. Albright and The Albright Group, LLC, and Legislative Aide to Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey.
Tara D. Sonenshine is the former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. She assumed the role of Senior Career Coach at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University effective January 30, 2017. As a career coach, Sonenshine assists students in the Masters’ program to navigate their global careers.Tara Sonenshine has a distinguished career in government, non-profits and the media. She has demonstrated expertise in foreign policy, programming, communications strategy and public policy and has had extensive dealings with business, community and governmental leaders worldwide. Her high level experience in the media includes producing news programs for network television and authoring articles for national print and online media. Sonenshine is the winner of 10 News Emmy Awards and other awards in journalism for programs on domestic and international issues. Having served on the Board of Trustees at the Women’s Foreign Policy Group and other organizations. Ms. Sonenshine has actively consulted to the private sector, NGO sector, and multiple clients on media outreach, board development, and strategic communications including facilitation and moderating programs for The Wilson Center, The United States Institute of Peace, Voice of America and others. Sonenshine has worked at The White House as Deputy Director of Communications. She is a contributor to The Hill.com and other media outlets.
Andrew Ross Sorkin is a columnist for The New York Times and the paper’s chief mergers and acquisitions reporter. He is also the editor of DealBook, an online daily financial report he started in 2001. In addition, Sorkin is an assistant editor of business and finance news, helping guide and shape the paper’s coverage. Sorkin wrote the best-selling book, Too Big to Fail, which was made into a movie by HBO. He is a frequent guest host of CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and often appears on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and PBS’s “Charlie Rose.” He won a Gerald Loeb Award, the highest honor in business journalism, in 2004 for breaking news. He also won a Society of American Business Editors and Writers award for breaking news in 2005 and again in 2006. In 2007, the World Economic Forum named him a Young Global Leader.
Jeff Speck is a city planner and urban designer who, through writing, lectures, public service, and built work, advocates internationally for smart growth and sustainable design. He currently leads a private consultancy offering design and advisory services to public officials and the real estate industry. As Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 through 2007, Mr. Speck presided over two NEA leadership initiatives, the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and Your Town, both of which teach design skills to community leaders nationwide. He also created and ran a new initiative, the Governors’ Institute on Community Design, which is bringing smart growth principles and techniques to state leadership. Prior to his federal appointment, Mr. Speck spent ten years as Director of Town Planning at Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co., Architects and Town Planners. DPZ is a leader in the international movement called the New Urbanism, which promotes alternatives to suburban sprawl and urban disinvestment. Mr. Speck is a contributing editor to Metropolis magazine, and serves on the Sustainability Task Force of the US. Department of Homeland Security. With Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, he is the co-author of Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream, which the Wall Street Journal calls “the urbanist’s bible.” With Andres Duany, he has written The Smart Growth Manual, just published by McGraw Hill.
In December 2009, Hari Sreenivasan joined the new PBS NewsHour as an online and on-air correspondent. Hari makes regular news updates throughout the day on the NewsHour’s website in addition to appearing nightly on the program. He also anchors the NewsHour Weekend. While at CBS News, Hari reported regularly on the “CBS Evening News,” “The Early Show;” and “CBS Sunday Morning.” Before that, he served as an anchor and correspondent for ABC News, working extensively on the network’s 24-hour digital service “ABC News Now.” Hari also reported for “World News Tonight”, “Nightline.” and anchored the overnight program World News Now. Previously, he ran his own production company and freelanced as a reporter for KTVU-TV in Oakland, Calif. (2002-04). Sreenivasan served as an anchor and senior correspondent for CNET Broadcast in San Francisco, Calif. (1996-2002) and was a reporter for WNCN-TV in Raleigh, N.C. (1995-96) He is the recipient of multiple Outstanding Broadcast Story Awards from the South Asian Journalists Association, an organization for which he served as a board member from 2001-04. Sreenivasan is also a member of the Asian American Journalists Association and a 2003 graduate of their Executive Leadership Program. He was born in Mumbai, India, where he also spent his early childhood. Sreenivasan graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 1995 with a degree in mass communication and minors in politics and philosophy.
Elizabeth Stark is a leader in the global free culture movement. She is a Fellow at the Yale Information Society Project, a Lecturer in Computer Science at Yale University, and an Adjunct Associate Professor at NYU. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Stark founded the Harvard Free Culture Group and served on the board of directors of Students for Free Culture. While at Harvard, she was Editor-at-Large of the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, and worked with the Harvard Advocates for Human Rights to make better use of new media to promote human rights. Elizabeth spent years researching for the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard, and has taught courses ranging from Cyberlaw to Intellectual Property to Technology & Politics to Electronic Music. She recently produced the inaugural Open Video Conference in NYC, garnering nearly 9000 participants in person and across the web. Elizabeth regularly gives talks around the world on the intersection of law, technology, and culture, and has collaborated with myriad organizations on promoting shared knowledge and the open web. She has lived and worked in Berlin, Singapore, Paris, and Rio de Janeiro, and speaks French, German, and Portuguese.
John Stauffer is Professor of English and African American Studies and former chair of American Studies at Harvard University. He is the author or editor of 20 books and over 100 articles focusing on antislavery and/or photography. “GIANTS: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln” was a national bestseller. “The Black Hearts of Men” was the co-winner of the Frederick Douglass Book Prize and the Lincoln Prize. “Picturing Frederick Douglass” was a Lincoln Prize finalist. His essays and reviews have appeared in Time, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, and in scholarly journals and books. He has been featured on national radio and TV, including “The Diane Rehm Show,” “Fresh Air,” and “Book TV.” And he has served as a consultant for several films, including “Django,” “The Free State of Jones,” and “The Abolitionists.” He lives in Cambridge with his wife and two sons.
Susan P. Sturm is the George M. Jaffin Professor of Law and Social Responsibility and the founding director of the Center for Institutional and Social Change at Columbia Law School. She has published numerous articles, case studies and books on “the architecture of inclusion,” institutional change, transformative leadership, workplace equality, legal education, and inclusion and diversity in higher education. Her recent publications include: Scaling Up (2010); Negotiating Workplace Equality (2008); Conflict Resolution and Systemic Change (with Howard Gadlin, 2007); The Architecture of Inclusion: Advancing Workplace Equity in Higher Education (2006); Law’s Role in Addressing Complex Discrimination (2005); Equality and the Forms of Justice (2004); Lawyers and the Practice of Workplace Equity (2002); Second Generation Employment Discrimination: A Structural Approach, (2001); and Who’s Qualified? (with Lani Guinier, 2001). “The Architecture of Inclusion” was the focus of a symposium issue published in the June 2007 issue of the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender. Sturm is the principal investigator for a Ford Foundation grant awarded to develop the architecture of inclusion in higher education. She has worked with numerous research and educational organizations and networks seeking to build the knowledge and capacity needed to advance full participation and exercise leadership in addressing important problems. She is currently co-chairing a working group on Transformative Leadership, as part of a Ford Foundation funded project on Building Knowledge for Social Justice. Her research on strategies for facilitating constructive multi-racial interaction in police training is featured on the Racetalks website, www.racetalks.org. Professor Sturm was one of the architects of the national conference on The Future of Diversity and Opportunity in Higher Education. In 2007, she received the Presidential Teaching Award for Outstanding Teaching at Columbia.
Ray Suarez was most recently the host of Al Jazeera America’s daily news program, Inside Story. The program covered a wide array of national and international news stories, from the rise of Donald Trump to long-term unemployment to the Russian seizure of the Crimean peninsula to the arrival of the zika virus on US soil.
Before coming to AJAM, Suarez spent 14 years as a correspondent and anchor at public television’s nightly newscast, The PBS NewsHour where he rose to become chief national correspondent. During his years at The NewsHour, Suarez covered the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, four presidential elections, broadcast from the floor of seven party political conventions, moderated two presidential primary candidates’ debates, reported from the devastating Haitian earthquake, the 2006 Mexico elections, the H1N1 virus pandemic in Mexico, and on the explosion of tuberculosis/HIV co-infection in South Africa among hundreds of other stories. Before arriving at The NewsHour Suarez was the Washington-based host of NPR’s Talk of the Nation for six-and-a-half years. During Suarez’ time as host, the program’s carriage more than doubled to more than 150 radio stations, and the audience more than tripled in size to two-and-a-half million. The New York Times called Suarez the “thinking man’s talk show host,” and “a national resource.” The magazine Utne Reader called him a “visionary.” Talk of the Nation made history, broadcasting live coast to coast across South Africa and across the United States, connecting these two audiences to talk about the post-apartheid future during the first elections after liberation. During Northern Ireland’s first Christmas in peace after decades of The Troubles, Talk of the Nation became the first radio program ever simulcast over Ireland’s RTE, Britain’s BBC, and NPR in the United States.
Julia E. Sweig is the Nelson and David Rockefeller senior fellow for Latin America Studies and director for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Dr. Sweig also directs CFR’s Global Brazil initiative. Dr. Sweig writes a bi-weekly column for Folha de São Paulo, Brazil’s leading newspaper. She is the author of Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2009, 2013) and Friendly Fire: Losing Friends and Making Enemies in the Anti-American Century (Public Affairs, 2006), as well as numerous publications on Latin America and American foreign policy. Dr. Sweig’s Inside the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and the Urban Underground (Harvard University Press, 2002) received the American Historical Association’s Herbert Feis Award for best book of the year by an independent scholar. Dr. Sweig serves on the international advisory board of the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI). She was the Sol M. Linowitz professor of international relations, Hamilton College in 2011, and, from 1999 to 2008, served as a consultant on Latin American affairs for the Aspen Institute Congressional Program. She holds a BA from the University of California and an MA and PhD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
Dina Temple-Raston is NPR’s counter-terrorism correspondent and has been reporting from all over the world for the network’s news magazines since 2007. She recently completed a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University where she studied the intersection of Big Data and intelligence. Prior to NPR, Temple-Raston was a longtime foreign correspondent for Bloomberg News in Asia and served as Bloomberg’s White House correspondent during the Clinton Administration. She has written four books, including The Jihad Next Door: Rough Justice in the Age of Terror, about the Lackawanna Six terrorism case. She is a frequent contributor to the PBS Newshour, a regular reviewer of national security books for the Washington Post Book World, and also contributes to the New Yorker, WNYC’s Radiolab, the TLS, and the Columbia Journalism Review, among others. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, and she has an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Manhattanville College.
James Traub is a journalist specializing in international affairs. He is a columnist and contributor to the Website foreignpolicy.com. He worked as a staff writer for The New Yorker from 1993 to 1998, and then as a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine from 1998 to 2011. Over the last decade he has reported from among other places, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, Egypt, Sudan, Guinea Bissau, Congo, Sierra Leone, Angola, Georgia, Kosovo and Haiti. He has also written extensively about national politics, urban affairs, and education. His most recent book is The Freedom Agenda: Why America Must Spread Democracy (Just Not The Way Bush Did). In 2006 he published The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the UN in the Era of American World Power. He has recently completed a biography of John Quincy Adams, to be published by Basic Books. He teaches classes on American foreign policy and on nation-building at NYU Abu Dhabi. He is the host for the Ethic Matters series of public conversations at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. He is a fellow of the Center on International Cooperation and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Brian Trelstad is the Chief Investment Officer of Acumen Fund, a $60M social investment fund investing in innovative social enterprises in South Asia and East Africa delivering critical health, water, housing and energy services to the base of the pyramid. He also drives Acumen’s work measuring social and financial return and is a founding executive committee member of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE). Prior to Acumen Fund, Brian was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in their New Jersey office. He has co-founded and advised several early-stage technology companies and social enterprises and was the lead environmental staffer for President Clinton’s Corporation for National Service. He is a graduate of Harvard College, Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and the University of California’s College of Environmental Design. Brian is a member of the 2010 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute. He is also a Kauffman Fellow (Class 12) and was the first impact investor to participate in the fellowship program.
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon is an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of Ashley’s War and The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, both New York Times best sellers.
Lemmon is a contributor to the Atlantic’s Defense One site, writing on national security and foreign policy issues, and a former contributing editor at Newsweek Daily Beast. She also writes regularly on Afghanistan’s politics and economy, entrepreneurship in fragile states, the fight to end child marriage, and issues affecting women and girls for publications including the New York Times, Financial Times, Fast Company, Christian Science Monitor, and CNN.com.
Lemmon regularly appears on a number of broadcast networks, including PBS, MSNBC, CNN, and National Public Radio, to discuss foreign policy issues. In December 2011, she gave the opening talk at TEDxWomen, which focused on why investing in women can make the difference for the global economy. Her presentation was named a “TED Talk of the Day.”
From 1997 to 2004, Lemmon covered presidential politics and public policy issues for the ABC News Political Unit and served as an editorial producer during the first year of “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” In 2004, she left ABC News to pursue her interest in international development and began MBA study at Harvard. After business school, she served as a vice president at the global investment firm PIMCO, where she worked in the executive office and in emerging markets.
Lemmon graduated summa cum laude from the University of Missouri with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She received an MBA from Harvard, as well as the 2006 Dean’s Award for her work on women’s entrepreneurship. She served as a Fulbright scholar in Spain and a Robert Bosch Foundation fellow in Germany. She speaks Spanish, German, and French, and is conversant in Dari. She serves on the boards of Mercy Corps and the International Center for Research on Women.
Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran is the award-winning global correspondent for The Economist. In his two decades on staff at The Economist, he has covered development issues, energy and environment, health care, and innovation. He is an expert advisor to the World Economic Forum/Davos and a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He also teaches at New York University’s Stern Business School. Vaitheeswaran has addressed groups ranging from the US National Governors’ Association and the UN General Assembly to the TED and the American Association for the Advancement of Science conferences. He is the co-author most recently of ZOOM: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future (Twelve, 2007), which was named a Book of the Year by Financial Times.
Amy Walter is the National Editor of The Cook Political Report where she provides analysis of the issues, trends and events that shape the political environment. Her weekly column appears at cookpolitical.com.
Over the past 19 years, Amy Walter has built a reputation as an accurate, objective, and insightful political analyst with unparalleled access to campaign insiders and decision-makers. Known as one of the best political journalists covering Washington, she is the former political director of ABC News. She is also a regular panelist on NBC’s Meet the Press, Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier and CBS’ Face the Nation. She provides political analysis every Monday evening for the PBS NewsHour.
This is Amy’s second tour of duty with The Cook Political Report. From 1997 to 2007, she served as Senior Editor where she covered the U.S. House. Walter was named one of DC’s “50 Top Journalists” by Washingtonian Magazine in 2009 and honored with the Washington Post’s Crystal Ball award for her spot-on election predictions in 2000. She is a member of the Board of Trustees at Colby College where she graduated summa cum laude.
Marvin Weinbaum is currently a Scholar-in-Residence with the Middle East Institute. He previously served as an Afghanistan and Pakistan Analyst at the Bureau of Intelligence Research at the State Department (1999-2003), Professor Emeritus oat the University of Illinois and Director of the Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Senior Fellow at the United States Instibailey
tute of Peace (1996-97).
Wilson L. White is a Director on the Public Policy & Government Relations team at Google, where he is the global policy lead for Google’s Android, Hardware and Ads businesses. He also is responsible for managing the company’s public policy strategies for emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, FinTech, and IoT. With more than 15 years of experience as an engineer and technology attorney, Wilson has used his multidisciplinary background and expertise to provide lawmakers, regulators and other key opinion formers across the Americas, Europe and Asia with thought leadership on the rapidly growing and changing mobile landscape and the societal implications of emerging technologies.
Wilson is an angel investor with a track record of representing inventors and advising start-up ventures. Since 2015, he has served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the University’s technology entrepreneurship program. He received a Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from NC State University and a Juris Doctor from University of North Carolina School of Law.
Wing Woo has expertise in East Asian economies, particularly those of China, Indonesia and Malaysia. In addition to his academic appointment at UC Davis, he is President of the Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia in Kuala Lumpur; Chang Jiang Professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing; Distinguished Professor at Fudan University in Shanghai; Director of the East Asia Program within the Earth Institute at Columbia University; and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. He was a consultant to China for the tax and exchange rate reforms that nation implemented in 1994; convener of the Asian Economic Panel (a group of about 40 economists who meet three times a year to discuss Asian economic issues); and Managing Editor of the Asian Economic Papers (MIT Press).
R. James Woolsey is a venture partner at VantagePoint Venture Partners. He is also the Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University; Of Counsel to the law firm of Goodwin Procter; and chairman of the Strategic Advisory Group of Paladin Capital Corporation. Before he joined VantagePoint in March 2008, Mr. Woolsey was a Partner with Booz Allen Hamilton in McLean, Virginia, specializing in energy and security issues, and prior to that a partner with Shea & Gardner in Washington D.C., specializing in commercial litigation and alternative dispute resolution (arbitration and mediation). He practiced at the firm for 22 years on four different occasions and served five times in the federal government for a total of 12 years, holding Presidential appointments in two Democratic and two Republican administrations. He served as Director of Central Intelligence (1993-95), Ambassador and Chief Negotiator for the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty in Vienna (1989-91), Delegate at Large (on a part-time basis) to the Strategic Arms Reductions Talks (START) and the Defense and Space Talks in Geneva (1983-86), Under Secretary of the Navy (1977-79), and General Counsel to the U.S. Senate committee on Armed Services (1970-73). He has served on numerous corporate and non-profit boards. From time to time he speaks publicly and contributes articles to newspapers and other periodicals on such issues as national security, energy, foreign affairs and intelligence.
Robin Wright has reported from more than 140 countries on six continents for The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, TIME, The Atlantic, The Sunday Times of London, CBS News, Foreign Affairs and many others. Her foreign tours include the Middle East, Europe, Africa and several years as a roving foreign correspondent worldwide. She has covered a dozen wars and several revolutions. Until 2008, she covered U.S. foreign policy for The Washington Post. Wright has also been a fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as well as Yale, Duke, Stanford, and the University of California. Among several awards, Wright received the U.N. Correspondents Gold Medal, the National Magazine Award for reportage from Iran in The New Yorker, and the Overseas Press Club Award for “best reporting in any medium requiring exceptional courage and initiative” for coverage of African wars. The American Academy of Diplomacy selected Wright as the journalist of the year for her “distinguished reporting and analysis of international affairs.” She also won the National Press Club Award for diplomatic reporting and has been the recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant. She lectures extensively around the United States and has been a television commentator on morning and evening news programs on ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN and MSNBC as well as “Meet the Press,” “Face the Nation,” “This Week,” “Nightline,” “PBS Newshour,” “Frontline,” “Charlie Rose,” “Washington Week in Review,” “Hardball,” “Morning Joe,” “Anderson Cooper 360,” “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer,” “Piers Morgan Tonight,” “The Colbert Report” and HBO’s “Real Time.” Wright’s most recent book is “Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion across the Islamic world.” Her other books include “Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East” (2008), which The New York Times and The Washington Post both selected as one of the most notable books of the year. She was the editor of “The Iran Primer: Power, Politics and U.S. Policy” (2010). Her other books include “The Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation in Iran” (2000), which was selected as one of the 25 most memorable books of the year 2000 by the New York Library Association, “Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam” (2001), “Flashpoints: Promise and Peril in a New World” (1991), and “In the Name of God: The Khomeini Decade” (1989).
Connie Yowell is the visionary and CEO of Collective Shift, bringing considerable experience from the MacArthur Foundation where she oversaw a $150 million program on Digital Media and Learning.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Connie was an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois, publishing scholarly work that examines the complex interplay among young people’s emerging identity, their social context and achievement. Connie briefly served as Policy Analyst in the U.S. Department of Education during the Clinton Administration, and has worked closely with teachers and administrators to develop programs for youth development.
In 2004, Connie received the Distinguished Fellows Award from the William T. Grant Foundation, an award to support scholars seeking to bridge research and practice, under which she worked with the National Writing Project to develop approaches that integrate web 2.0 technologies into the social practices of teachers. Connie earned her bachelor’s degree from Yale, and her PhD from Stanford University.
Philip Zelikow is the White Burkett Miller Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in History at the University of Virginia. Zelikow began his professional career as a trial and appellate lawyer in Texas. His Ph.D. is from Tufts University’s Fletcher School. He was a career diplomat, posted overseas and in Washington, including service on the NSC staff for President George H.W. Bush. Since 1991 he has taught and directed research programs at Harvard University and at the University of Virginia. His books include Germany Unified and Europe Transformed (with Condoleezza Rice), The Kennedy Tapes (with Ernest May), and Essence of Decision (with Graham Allison). In addition to service on some government advisory boards, and as an elected member of a local school board, he has taken two public service leaves from academia to return full-time to government service, in 2003-04 to direct the 9/11 Commission and in 2005-07 as Counselor of the Department of State, a deputy to Secretary Rice. He also advises the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s program in global development and is a consultant to the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
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